SPOOL

Last month · 214 rolls · 6 shown

Other people's frames, printed at the size we scan them

Nothing here was shot by us. Every one came in a paper bag with a name on it and went back out as a folder of TIFFs. Shown with permission, which we ask for on the envelope.

An old silver film camera on a printed map with three small black-and-white prints beside it.
Roll 1184 · Portra 400frame 17
A white instant camera standing upright on a plain pale surface.
Roll 1190 · HP5 pushedframe 04
A person in silhouette with one arm raised inside a cloud of green and red smoke.
Roll 1201 · Cinestillframe 22
Palm trees photographed from directly below against a pale blue sky.
Roll 1206 · Ektar 100frame 09
A dense grid of tall buildings seen from high above the city.
Roll 1211 · Gold 200frame 31
A black game controller lit from two sides by teal and red light.
Roll 1218 · Superia 400frame 12
A figure lit through drifting green and red smoke, arms raised, specks of light in the air.

What happens to your roll

Four steps, the same four every time, and the whole lot is done by two people in two rooms. Nothing is sent abroad and nothing is done by a machine that nobody is standing next to.

01

Logged

Your name goes on a paper tag and the tag stays with the film until it is back in the envelope. We do not use barcodes and we have lost one roll in six years.

02

Developed

C-41 at 38°, black and white by hand in the second room. Push and pull are free if you write them on the bag; we cannot guess them afterwards.

03

Scanned

Flat, at 3600 pixels on the long edge, with the dust spotted out and nothing else touched. You get the TIFFs and a set of JPEGs off the same file.

04

Back

Negatives in sleeves, in the order they were shot, with the tag still on. A link to the files that stays live for ninety days, then goes.

What we do not correct

Colour cast from expired stock, a green shift from mixed light, grain, vignetting and a skewed horizon. All of those are decisions, not faults, and a lab that quietly removes them is deciding for you. Ask and we will do any of it, once, free.

What we will tell you

If a roll came back blank, if the camera is leaking light along one edge, if the shutter is dragging at low speeds, or if the film was loaded on the wrong side. Four notes on the tag, in pencil, and we would rather be blunt than polite.

Prices, and how long

One price per roll whatever the format. Nothing is charged per frame, because charging per frame makes people shoot less, which is the opposite of what a lab wants.

Develop and scan, colour£12

Develop and scan, black and white£14

Develop only, sleeved£6

E-6, out on Wednesdays£17

Push or pull, any stopsfree

Hand print, 8 by 10£19

In by Tuesday, back on Friday. There is no rush service, because a rush service is just everybody else's film moved down the queue.

Where to post it
A white instant camera standing on a pale surface, lit from the left.

Spool

First floor, 8 Ironworks Row,
above the bike shop
+44 7700 900 447

Counter

Tue–Fri 10:00–18:00
Sat 10:00–14:00
Post any day, first class

On this page

Spool is a fictional example. The lab, the roll numbers, the prices and the turnaround do not exist, and no photograph here was made on the film named beside it. Photographs are stock images and were not developed at this lab.