We offer disposable film developing. Begin ordering here!
In the long arc since disposable cameras first came out in the late 1980s, people have used these in a variety of ways. At first, they were designed simply as easy-to-have-with camera alternatives, smaller and more convenient to carry than larger film cameras even if the quality suffered. They quickly became crowd pleasers for special events like weddings where each table got at least one, or for places like the beach that could damage a real camera.
In the early aughts, when film became harder to find, disposable cameras became the next best thing. In recent years as film photography flourished again, disposable cameras came back as an analog accessory that is as different from a film camera as it is from your iPhone. But the good news is that processing disposable cameras of any type and any brand is as easy to get done as any traditional film developing.
Benefits of Disposable Cameras
The best part about disposable cameras may be the ability to easily carry one with you always. Users love the ritual of taking the camera to the lab for processing following a trip, a party, a holiday, or part of a semester. They like using the viewfinder and the lack of preview that you normally get with your phone or a digital camera. Our customers choose to get scans from the developed film which they share on social media (but a week or more after). They enjoy the analog look and they find the results more flattering to faces and skin tone than a camera phone. Above all, they love being intentional about the pictures they take—with just 27 pictures they get an abundance of great shots.
Disposable Camera Developing
We process a mountain of disposable cameras at PhotoLounge every week, right in our own lab. Our turnaround is the same as any color film which is typically the next day. We provide scans that are shared through a link by email through Dropbox, and most customers also choose to get a set of prints. We suggest our best selling lustre surface paper because it's beautiful, doesn’t create glare, and is actually hard to finger print (and is also archival to about 100 years). You’ll also get back your negatives which are good for making really large prints later and also provide a physical backup that you can store in a shoebox… no passwords necessary.
Ordering is simple online and from mobile, and you can use our drop off boxes, the store counter, or even have a courier pick up your film and bring it to the lab. Film Club Members can save 10% when they purchase disposable cameras from us and then get upgraded to better scanning resolution when they return for processing. We’ll also send you a discount code if you have 10 or more disposable cameras or film and cameras combination.
Fun Fact: Did you know that we return all the used disposable cameras to a company that reloads them with film over and over again? This is how these cameras were actually designed, which is why their actual name is “Single Use Cameras.” They actually have about six lives, and the memories they create are also likely to outlive anything digital. Now why can’t we do that for water bottles?