Will You Return My Negatives and Other Items?

Our policy is to always return your negatives, unless you specifically select a develop-and-scan-only option where negative return is not included.

For most film developing orders, your negatives are part of the finished order and will be returned to you after developing, scanning, cutting, and packaging.

Negatives are the original master copy

Digital scans are convenient, but your negatives are still the original photographic record. We strongly recommend keeping them in a safe place after your order is returned.

Even if you only plan to use the digital files, negatives can sometimes be rescanned later at higher quality, reprinted, or used if digital files are lost.

Items we normally return

We normally return:

Developed negatives
Mounted slides
APS cartridges after developing, with the film inside
Reloadable 35mm cassettes for fresh film only

Please make sure any item you specifically want returned is clearly marked and mentioned in your order notes.

Personal items and shipping materials

Personal items used to ship, protect, or identify your film are usually discarded and not returned unless you specifically request their return.

This includes general packing materials, notes, bags, boxes, and other non-film items used to send the order to us.

Please do not send film in anything valuable, sentimental, fragile, or difficult to replace. The safest approach is to send only the film and the information needed to identify your order.

Larger shipping items are not automatically returned

Larger shipping items will not be returned unless you request their return and pay any additional return shipping cost.

This includes large boxes, cases, containers, display items, storage boxes, or anything that would significantly increase the size, weight, or cost of the return shipment.

Please do not send food

Please do not send anything edible with your film.

We sincerely appreciate the thought, but for safety reasons, all food received with film orders is discarded. Film packages may contain chemicals, old cameras, dirty packaging, leaking batteries, mold, unknown residue, or other materials that make food unsafe to keep.

Items we do not automatically return

We do not automatically return:

Empty disposable camera shells
Empty standard 35mm cassettes
Plastic 35mm storage canisters
120 / 220 backing paper
120 / 220 spools
General packing material

These items may be recycled, reused, donated, or discarded depending on condition and lab needs.

APS film

APS film is returned inside its cassette after developing whenever possible.

APS is a more limited format today, and scanning options may be different from standard 35mm. If you are sending APS film, please make sure you select the correct service and understand that APS handling may take longer than standard 35mm film.

Please do not put return-address stickers on film items

Please do not put return-address stickers directly on film cartridges, spools, backing paper, storage canisters, or other film-related items.

We often reuse, recycle, or resell certain film-related materials to help keep developing prices as low as possible. Standard 35mm cassettes may be reloaded with ECN-2 film and sold through Dirt Cheap Film. Some 120 spools and backing paper may also be reused or resold when appropriate.

You can find our film for sale at www.dirtcheapfilm.com.

What happens to items we cannot use?

Anything we cannot reuse, recycle, or repurpose may be donated when appropriate. Some film-related items may be donated to the Film Photography Project in New Jersey or discarded if they are damaged, contaminated, or not useful.