The 5 Best Places To Get Film Developed In & Around Edinburgh

Whether you’re in Edinburgh for a few days or you live in Edinburgh, we’ve got you covered for places to get your film processed.

Here are the best places to go to get film developed in Edinburgh, whether you need it the same day or you need super high-quality scans.

What To Look For When Picking A Film Lab

When picking somewhere local to get your film developed, it’s important to pick the right place. I’ll guide you to where I think is the best place to go but the important aspects are: How quickly do you need your film processed? What quality do you need your film to be scanned at (if you want scans)? How much are you willing to pay for the quality? Do you want to post your film or drop it off yourself?

I’ll create a list of what’s the best lab based on proximity to the centre of Edinburgh, which has same-day turnaround times and which has the potential for the best scans and I’ll leave this at the bottom of the article!

Kodak Express

Location

47a clerk street, Edinburgh – Not too far from the centre of town but not completely central.

What they do

Kodak Express process colour and black and white film, and they offer a large variety of options like develop only, develop and prints or develop and scans. Kodak Express used to be a regular high street store but now there are fewer and fewer.

You can expect a fairly good standard from Kodak express and they offer a few different tiers of scan quality which is always a good sign.

So what’s the cost?

The general costs are between £9.99 and 12.99 for colour develop and scans, you can pay an extra £3 for same-day turnaround! Black and white is between £10.99 and 13.99 but you can’t get that done on the same day.

This pricing isn’t too bad, especially for the centre of Edinburgh.

A + M Imaging

Location

Unit 1-3, Stewart field industrial estate, New Haven Road eh65rq. Just a little out of the centre if your visiting. 1.5 miles walk from Edinburgh’s new town. 

What do they do?

A + M imaging provide a large variety of processing and printing options. They provide Giclee printing if you ever want professional prints, which is a really cool option if you’re looking to keep shooting regularly! They also provide a lot of different development options, colour, black and white, slide film and medium format at all different levels of quality.

So what’s the cost?

Prices for colour range from £8 at a standard resolution to £13 for high res. And as per usual Black and white is a bit more at £10 – £14. I couldn’t find out what scanner they use but I get the impression that this would be a really good service. Turn around time is 2-3 days but a 24-hour special turn around time is available.

Digital Image Centre

Location

27 Elm Row, Edinburgh, EH74AH – This is quite a central place but I think the price reflects this.

What do they do?

There isn’t a lot of information about Digital Image Centre online so I gave them a call to see what they do! It sounds like they run a basic process where they only deliver one standard of quality. I can’t really say what standard that quality would be either really. With it being a fairly central lab I would assume that the standard will be fairly low, which is still fine for people that are just visiting etc. As far as I can remember, they said it was a 2-3 day turnaround time.

What’s the cost?

Colour is £14 per roll and black and white is £17 per roll. These are pretty significant costs to be honest, especially since there’s only one standard of scan quality.

Cameratiks

It seems that Cameratiks does/has provided a processing service but I can’t really discern much from their website. This may be updated in the future. Maybe a good option for those that live in the surrounding area.

Stills

Location

23 Cockburn St, Edinburgh EH1 1BP

What do they do?

Well, Stills aren’t a processing lab, sorry! But they look to be a great place for photographers and artists so I really wanted to include it for you! It seems to be a great community place to use resources etc. that you wouldn’t usually be able to use.

The Last Resort (Max Spielmann)

Locations

30 Meadow Pl Rd, Corstorphine, Edinburgh EH12 7UQ

The Jewel, 100, Asda, The Jewel, Edinburgh EH15 3AR

Asda, 3 New Mart Rd, Edinburgh EH14 1RJ

There are three locations all on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

What do they do?

Well, Max Spielmann is the last resort because it’s expensive and poor quality. They only do one standard of scans and I dread to think what it costs now. Only go here if you have to!

Final Word

I would strongly suggest using A+M if you’re local to Edinburgh and you shoot regularly. If you are a local, then definitely also check out Stills, as it looks like a really valuable place!

If you’re just visiting then I think that Kodak Express is the best place to go. It’s fairly reasonably priced and they can develop film quickly for an extra cost!

I hope this was helpful to you and will help you when you need to find a place to get film developed in Edinburgh!