Bleeker Digital Solutions — Local services in New York

I was excited to try this lab because of the great ratings but unfortunately I didn't have a good experience. Dropped off two films of precious travel shots and ordered the second highest quality scans. Turn around time was 4 days. Not only was I overcharged according to the website, but one of the films has smears all over it, effectively ruining the whole roll. The scans of both rolls are okay at best but don't look much corrected and require a lot of postprocessing. When I reached out to express my disappointment with the quality and especially the smears, the owner or associate blamed it on me and said it was a bad roll. I told him it was 2 films of the same stock and batch, he told me they process hundreds of rolls a day and this is the only one like that, and that they "wash all film after processing", so it can't be the lab's fault. He then tried fishing for excuses and asked me how I store my film. When I told him I freeze all my film he said that's the problem and one should never ever store film in the freezer, only in the fridge. In the end he offered me a store credit but I'm quite disappointed by this whole experience. I've been shooting film for 15 years, have been storing hundreds of rolls in the freezer (as officially recommended by both Kodak and Fuji as it has been proven to minimize the degradation of the emulsion chemicals), and this is the first time I had such smears on my negatives. I could live with the lab admitting a mistake and apologizing, but telling me stuff like I shouldn't store film in the freezer and treating me like I don't know what I'm doing is not how I want to be treated after paying more than $40 per roll, so I will avoid this lab...

I first met Anil, the current owner of Bleeker Digital, in the mid 90s when he was working at US Color Labs in NYC. We used to come back from week-long fashion shoots with 300+ rolls of medium format film to process. In those days, each group of rolls would get a clip-test (developing the first couple of frames of a roll) to make sure the film was exposed correctly. With thousands of rolls developed and still counting... I cannot recall of any incident. We used to think that the guys at US Color were like magicians. Then digital photography started and with that (almost) the end of film processing. I kept a few analog cameras but did not shoot with them for many years. But, in the past decade, I realized that there was a special quality to film, a third dimension and a 'look' that it was hard to duplicate with digital. I also realized how valuable it was to have a 'negative' as a form of analog master. Unbeknownst to me, I was riding the beginning of the 'analog' counterculture. I needed a reliable lab, and after a long web search... I walked into Bleeker Digital, and, to my surprise, Anil was standing behind the counter like in the old days. A decade and many rolls later, I can say that the quality and service of Anil's business has been impeccable, as always, and Bleeker Digital Lab remains my go-to lab for film processing and...

I've been coming here for years. Nisha and Anil are both very nice and helpful and I know my pictures are in good hands when I go there. I always get digital scans, prints, and negatives. There have never been any problems with any of these. I strongly suggest you don't go to a Walgreens or CVS to get your film developed because they will alter the look and quality of your pictures. The one time I went to a different film shop (just because it was closer) they lost my negatives. Leave your precious film with actual professionals like these people.

It seems that even among celebrity circles they know that this is the best film shop in New York; you can walk in and see the pictures they have of all the famous people who have been there. If you don't want to take my word for it, maybe you can trust DeAndre Jordan, Adrien Brody, Bappi Lahiri, etc.

As long as I live in New York, I'm going to come back here. Nisha and Anil, if you're reading this, I appreciate you both and congratulate you on the 25th anniversary of running...