Using professional labs for your film is expensive, and that expense can seem even greater when you are learning to use your camera and getting back film that doesn’t meet your ideals. So, using a 1-hour photo lab is the way to go. And there are ways to make your time there less expensive and more successful too.

The most important tip is one I learned from Costco. All the 1-hour labs processing C-41 film use a machine and the process is automated. The machine pulls out the film from your film canister by pulling it through felt slit. If there is debris or dirt in this slit of the film canister, it can produce a long, straight scratch on your negatives which will make printing in a darkroom very difficult or disappointing and make digitally editing the photos a pain. One way to avoid this is to use a can of compressed air and blow out any dirt in the felt on your film canister, or to ask the 1-hour photo lab to do it with their air blower. And ask them nicely, or watch them do it yourself, because not all 1-hour photo employees are created equally. You won’t be met with the same concern with the care for your negatives as you will be in professional labs, especially since many people are using 1-hour photo labs for digital printing these days.

The next tip is to minimize cost. Scanners with film scanning adapters are affordable these days. They won’t be professional-grade scanners, but they will be sufficient for most consumers’ needs. I have an Epson v200, but I’m looking to upgrade to the 4490 which is currently $150 dollars on Amazon. By scanning my own negatives and requesting no prints with my processing, I am able to save several dollars every time I process. At a 1-hour photo lab, my processing fee is around $2 a roll.

When I scan my own negatives, I get better quality and I save money – my film scanner eventually pays for itself in this way. It takes more time, sure, but if you are dedicated to getting good photographs on a limited budget, than this is the way to go. Once I scan my negatives, I can upload them to services like Flickr, and order prints from the files. Flickr will recommend sizes to print from the files you provide; if the resolution is too small on the scanned photo, then you won’t be able to print very large or at all.