Print and Film Labs: Who’s Open and Who’s Not

Who’s sitting on a backlog of album and print orders? Do you have clients who have been ready to help your business with big album upgrades, but can’t fulfill their orders? Over the past couple of weeks, labs have started to come back online. Physically walking in to place your order is still on hold for most, but we are slowly getting back to normal. Here is a roundup of the status of some of the top labs from around the United States.

WHCC (White House Custom Color)

As of April 10, Minnesota-based White House Custom Color, was able to open their doors and resume production. They continue to observe strict distancing measures and safety precautions within their production teams. While WHCC is known for their blazing fast production times, those times are, however, slightly delayed at the moment. For example, prints are taking one-to-three days, albums are taking three days, and acrylic prints are taking four-to-five days. While these are incredibly fast turn-around times compared to any normal service, in the WHCC world, these are delayed times.

Richard Photo Lab

Richard Photo Lab is accepting film via mail delivery and is processing, scanning, and printing normally. They do request patience with turnaround times, as its site lists a three-day wait time for processing and scanning. Richard Photo Lab has also been offering $16 process and scan services for any sized scan. That offer is set to expire soon.

Photovision Prints

The front doors are closed, but production is up and running. Photovision Prints is processing and scanning with a slightly delayed turnaround time. From receipt of your order to uploading your gallery, it may take between three and five days — still, not bad. The Oregon-based lab is also very dedicated to flattening the curve and has continued to take strict measures with employee distancing. From Photovision Prints:

“In the state of Oregon we have been able to remain open throughout this time due to our ability to keep a social distance of 6 feet. All three of our film processors have been running daily we have been scanning daily and fulfilling print orders. So thankful that the film community has continued to shoot when they can during this time! “

– Photovision Prints

Miller’s Lab / MPIX

Miller’s Lab has been in full-swing since the May 1. All services are available, but the company cites a big backlog of orders at the moment (the one crux of having a large-scale online ordering system). They are also offering 15 percent off of everything through June 7. Very early in April, Miller’s brought in a skeleton crew of employees specifically to man their larger machines which cannot remain idle.

Indie Film Lab

Indie Film Lab, based in Montgomery Alabama, is closed to the public, but they are accepting mail-in orders. They recently switched to an online ordering system for their film processing, so they do request patrons complete and print out an order form and mail it together with their film rolls. If you currently do not have access to a printer, contact Indie to let them know you will have to e-mail it over, as you’ll have to coordinate the preferences of your scan type and size.

The Find Lab

The Utah-based film lab is also accepting mail-in orders of film and is processing, scanning, and uploading as normal. One addition: they are also accepting orders through their physical dropbox, which sits directly outside of their office suite in Orem. But the public cannot walk into the office:

“Due to the current situation with Covid-19 and for the safety and health of our team members and clients, we are not accepting walk-ins at this time. Thank you for your understanding and your support!”

– The Find Lab

Bay Photo

The California-based Bay Photo did not close down at any time. Bay Photo was deemed essential, as they continued to produce masks and metal signage. Bay Photo filled many large orders for easy-to-sanitize metal signage for hospitals and other essential business. The phone lines at Bay Photo just came back up May 12, and they are now in full and normal production mode. Customers should expect to see slight delays in order processing due to distancing measures leaving Bay Photo less than fully staffed.

Black River Imaging

Black River Imaging is under no limitations with their services. In April, they were completely shutdown, but were permitted to keep staffing for general maintenance of their large machinery. Days before Mother’s Day, they opened up production with a huge backlog of orders. But this large-scale operation quickly caught up and are now have almost zero delays. The only exception is with more intricate items such as framed prints and albums, in which case customers can expect to see one or two days of additional production time before receiving their order.

Do you know of other labs in your area that are open and processing customer orders? Add yours below!

All images shot by Phillip Tang for Film Objektiv and used with permission.