Ikigai HQ is at 2/62 Albemarle Street, Williamstown North, but we are not open for walk-ins and we do not have a storefront.

Click & collect orders can be picked up using our parcel lockers at HQ.

Click & collect is available Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm, and if you place your order during these hours, we'll usually have it ready within an hour.

Film for processing can be dropped in our box on the front fence 24/7.

You can either post your film to us, drop it off at one of our drop-off points, or use the drop box at our HQ.

View our drop-off point map.

We are not open for face-to-face drop-offs, but we do have a drop box on our fence that is accessible 24/7.

Fill out our online order form and then either:

Post your film to:

Ikigai Film Lab
PO BOX 971
WILLIAMSTOWN, VIC 3016

We recommend using a box or satchel to post your film.

You can also read our mailing tips here.

If you're dropping film off in person, use the drop box on the fence at our HQ. Envelopes and a pen are provided.

In general we operate on a 3 to 5 business day turnaround, but this may be longer during peak periods.

We'll send you an SMS notification when we receive your film.

It's also best to double check your tracking number to confirm delivery.

If you've sent your film using one of our drop boxes, please wait for the SMS to arrive.

If your film is still within the turnaround period provided when it arrived, please wait until that period has passed before getting in touch for an update.

We develop C-41, E-6 and B&W film in 35mm and 120.

This includes disposable cameras.

We do not develop 110, 126, 4x5, 8x10, Super 8, 16mm or disc film.

Why we don't process film from certain brands

There are a small number of brands we do not process. This is usually due to repeated quality issues, risk to our chemistry and equipment, or concerns about how the film is represented to customers.

Film Never Die branded film:

We have concerns about their labour practices and the way some of their film has been represented to customers.

Mr Negative branded film:

We do not process Mr Negative film due to misleading branding around film origin, along with repeated quality issues including heavy age fogging and poor remjet removal, which can affect our chemistry and equipment.

For more reliable results, we recommend purchasing Kodak Vision film with remjet removed from a trusted supplier.

Walkens House of Film branded film:

We no longer process their branded film due to a past business dispute that we consider inconsistent with fair and ethical business conduct.

35mmco branded film:

We stopped processing 35mmco film after a product labelled as C-41 turned out to be black and white film, which resulted in blank rolls when processed in C-41.

We also have broader concerns about how some of their products have been represented to customers.

Yes. Disposable cameras are the same price as regular rolls, and all you need to do is send the entire camera in. We have a special tool to remove the film.

Our order form is here.

Step 1. Process & Scan

Step 2. C-41 film

Step 3. 35mm film

Step 4. Choose whether you want Standard or Pro scans

Step 1 to 3 and Step 4 in image form.

Disposable cameras have a fixed aperture and shutter speed. If there isn't enough light to create a photo, there will be no image on the film for us to scan.

We scan everything that is on the film.

The most common cause of this with disposables is not using the flash indoors or when shooting at night.

No, but we recommend Nanolab.

Yes. We can scan half frame as single frames or as diptychs.

Half frame is scanned as single frames by default unless diptychs are requested.

We don't offer ECN-2 at this time.

Yes. If you'd like your film cross processed or pushed, please select the option on our order form and clearly label your film to be pushed, pulled or cross processed.

We can push and pull C-41 and B&W film. We cannot push or pull E-6 film.

We use Noritsu QSF-V50P film processors and a rotary tube system for black and white and E-6.

For our C-41 process we use Fujifilm chemistry.

For our black and white process we use Kodak XTOL developer.

For our E-6 process we use 6-bath Fuji PRO6 chemistry.

Yes. We run Kodak C-41 and Fuji CR-56 control strips to constantly monitor the chemical and mechanical condition of our equipment and to ensure our processes remain in control.

We know you're keen to see your film, but we do not offer same day process and scan as a standard service.

We prioritise doing each roll properly, and we value consistency and scan quality over speed.

The additional time we spend on your film helps us deliver better results.

For fresh film and beginner mistakes, we'll charge for developing only and refund the scan portion. We'll also send notes to help troubleshoot so you can avoid the same issue next time.

For expired or found film, we do not refund scans. The risk is assumed when sending it in, and this also covers the extra admin involved with expired film.

All expired rolls are scanned on the Noritsu.

We are unable to scan expired film on the Frontier due to fogging. If you've chosen Frontier and sent in expired film, we will scan it on the Noritsu instead.

Unlike most other labs, we offer a choice between Fujifilm and Noritsu scanners. You can learn about the differences between Noritsu and Fuji scans here.

We offer two resolution tiers.

Standard is approximately 8" at 300 DPI. Pro is approximately 12 to 16" at 300 DPI.

Standard is perfect for small to medium sized prints or web use.

Pro is better for large prints, or if you want the maximum resolution our scanners are capable of.

Yes. Our Noritsu scanners are capable of very high resolution on XPAN frames, up to 12297px on the long edge.

On the Noritsu we can scan your XPAN frames as Standard or Pro res.

On the Frontier, we can only scan your XPAN frames as Pro res and you must keep the panoramic frame for the entire roll.

If you change format mid-roll, we are only able to scan your roll on the Noritsu, as it effectively needs to be scanned twice to cover both formats.

We cannot scan XPAN frames on the Frontier in Standard res.

We're one of the only labs in Australia that can scan your XPAN frames on both the Frontier and Noritsu, so feel free to try both.

We only offer contact sheets for full border scans. We do not offer single frame or full roll scans that include the sprockets due to scanner limitations.

Contact sheets are a great way to get full border scans and are available on our order form under advanced options.

We only scan full rolls. Rolls must be sent in and clearly marked for rescanning.

We cannot go through your stored negatives and identify rolls or individual shots for rescanning.

Scans are delivered as .jpg files in the Adobe sRGB colour space.

We deliver files via a Dropbox link to your mobile phone. The link itself won't change from order to order, so feel free to bookmark it on a computer and all your future scans will show up in the same place.

We store your photos online for 90 days. Download them as soon as you get your link to be safe.

We do not offer TIFF scans.

Yes, we can. We will do our best to provide a blemish-free scan, but due to the nature of receiving film from an uncontrolled environment, we cannot make any guarantees.

We only offer contact sheets for film we've developed ourselves, due to the preparation and workflow involved.

We're not open for negative pickups. Please complete our negative return form to arrange postage.

We will sleeve your 35mm and 120 film by default using Fujicolor archival sleeves. 35mm is cut into 6-frame lengths.

We do not offer uncut negatives.

Unfortunately we are unable to return spools or film canisters.

We also have a specific sleeving workflow, so we only sleeve using Fuji Crystal Archive and our frosted 35mm roll sleeves.

35mm is cut in strips of 6 and 120 is cut depending on the format, 2 frames for 6x7, 3 for 6x6 and so on.

We currently store negatives for 1 year. We do have a leeway period, but please be sure to organise negative return before that period ends, as we can't archive your film indefinitely.

Negative collation and postage can be requested via our negative return form.

Yes. If you have negatives being returned from a processing order, you will receive an email with a code to remove shipping.

Unfortunately we're unable to offer this for deep storage negatives.

We don't offer develop and print.

Your negatives will not be posted to you unless you've provided your address and selected "post my negatives" on your order form.

We don't offer develop and print.

Unfortunately we don't repair cameras.

We usually don't get advance notice when stock is coming in.

The best way to know when something is arriving is to add your email to the product waitlist on the product page.

11am Melbourne time, Monday to Friday.

If something is genuinely urgent, for example you need a roll of Portra for your wedding day, please use our Pick Up service or email us.

We're a small team, so all of our support is handled via email. If your question is not answered here, send us an email.