Swan Photo Labs

Used this service several times because they seem to have a monopoly over film development in soCal. Each time the film comes back smudged with the scans often blemished and with dust. Their archaic system involves sharing files via CD which is a huge hassle. I would expect more for their high prices.
Jun 29th, 2019

Excellent job on my film. I took a roll of B&W to Nelson Photo on India st (downtown san diego), who sends their BW (prob color too...) film out to Swan. I just got devel and a contact sheet, ran me about 15 dollars. However, Swan Photo Labs made a first class OPTICAL contact sheet, meaning they cut my negatives, put in a 6 row sleeve, and printed them via enlarger and glossy light-sensitive photo paper. Most photo labs do this DIGITALLY via scanning and printing which usually lacks the sharpness and contrast authenticity that optical does. Other labs also do not always cut and sleeve your negs, which saves a bit of time and is just less to think about. Very happy to see someone still doing it the old-fashioned way. Will certainly be sending more film up there as its well worth the money to only have to focus on printing photos...thats the fun part! Btw, my film made it round trip in a mere 2 days. Big ups to Nelson Photo and Swan.
Sep 3rd, 2012