Where to Buy and Develop Film in Shanghai

No doubt Shanghai is a sweet place to be shooting your film photography.

If you’re just visiting though, you probably don’t want to be bringing rolls with you and taking them home again undeveloped unless you really have to. The good news there is, you don’t have to.

There are a few places you can buy and develop film in Shanghai – be that 35mm, 120 and other medium format, large format, 110 cartridges, and who knows what else.

But just as I can’t list each and every film available in Shanghai, neither can I make a post featuring each and every film lab in the city. I’m not giving myself the never ending project of updating it as places open and close. It would also mean listing places I can’t vouch for the quality of.

What this is instead is information on the places I’ve used and have been happy with. If and when I try any new ones, I’ll add them to the post too.

Option 1: Weima Professional Photo, Shanghai

The first place I got film developed in Shanghai was Weima Professional Photo, in the Jing’an area. This was primarily as it was the most-mentioned option when I was first looking online for a place to go.

It’s got a few things going for it.

• central location
• good results and reliable
• English-speaking staff
• wide selection of film for sale

Weima Professional Photo location

Weima Professional Photo is about a five-minute walk from the Jing’an Temple subway station.

The address is Room 1011, 10th Floor, 309 Yuyuan Road, near Wulumuqi Lu, and the phone number 6248-2187.

You’ll have to find the right building, which is just a small lobby with a single lift, and go up to the 10th floor. The most direct way to get there from the nearest subway station is on the map below.

Because you might be in China and Google might not work for you, it’s a screenshot. If you can get on Google Maps, you can go straight to those directions by clicking here.

Step-by-step directions would look like this:

• Take exit 1 at Jing’an Temple subway station, turn right, and walk north up Huashan Road until you get to the next crossroads.
• Once you get there and see the Paramount ballroom, cross Huashan Road and head west down Yuyuan Road.
• Keep going west until you get to Zi’an Mansion and see the doorway shown below, where you can ignore the 315 on the wall and go in anyway.
• Take the lift up to the 10th floor.
• Head out through the door to the left of the lift, turn right into the corridor, and Weima will be in front of you.

My experience at Weima Professional Photo

The following is my experience at Weima. Things may change and yours may differ.

First up are the good things about the place, and the first of those is the quality of service and level of reliability I’ve always got. I’ve never had any reason to complain with the job they’ve done. It’s just never been bad.

I know judging a business on they didn’t mess up rather than they did a great job isn’t the greatest eulogy but a reliable lab is important after I’ve spent my time shooting a roll. In the 10 or so opportunities I’ve given them to do so, Weima have never lost or destroyed my rolls or given me someone else’s photographs in error.

You can get your images printed or scanned at Weima, although I only ever do the latter so I can publish them on here. They can give them to you on a CD or you can leave a USB stick for them to use. The staff on the front desk speak English so you’ll have no problem communicating what you want to get done.

My photographs have usually been ready in four days, except for the last time I went when they were ready the next day. I don’t know why that was but I wasn’t going to complain.

Weima also has a couple of shelves full of film for sale, and a fridge with the expensive stuff in too. The selection includes Asian market stocks like Fujicolor Industrial 100 and spans the price range from the cheap Kodak ColorPlus to the not cheap relaunched Ektachrome.

So far so good, but there is a downside to Weima. That is that it isn’t the most cost-effective place to either develop or buy film in Shanghai. Whether that’s a deal breaker for you depends on your circumstances, and I’ll get into that more later in this piece.

Option 2: Film Park, Shanghai

Not to be confused with the film studio and theme park of the same name way out in Songjiang that dominates page one of Google for the search term, this Film Park is a photo lab nicely located in Shanghai’s French Concession.

This is what it’s got going for it.

• good location
• nice results and reliable
• English-speaking staff
• cheaper than other labs

Film Park location

Film Park is about a ten-minute walk from the South Shaanxi Road subway station.

The address is 140 Jiashan Road, Xuhui District. I don’t know their phone number but their WeChat account is at FILMPARK, according to the envelope I received my negatives in.

The address 140 Jiashan Road actually consists of a few alleyways with extra numbers on them. Film Park is located at the far end of the one numbered 1-5. The most direct way to get there from the nearest subway station is on the map below.

Because you might be in China and Google might not work for you, it’s a screenshot. If you can get on Google Maps, you can go straight to those directions by clicking here.

Step-by-step directions would look like this:

• Take exit 6 at South Shaanxi Road subway station, go over the crossroads, and walk south down South Shaanxi Road until you get to the next crossroads.
• Once there turn right and head west along Fuxing Middle Road until you come to a T-junction going south.
• Take the T-junction, go south down Jiashan Road, and keep going until you get past the formerly lively Yongkang Road.
• Look for the alleyways on the right-hand side of Jiashan Road and head up the one labelled 140 1-5.
• Go into the studio at the very end, bear right through the C door, and know you’ve arrived when you see the cool keyring display on the wall.

My experience at Film Park

The following is my experience at Film Park. Things may change and yours may differ.

First up is the most obvious advantage it has over certain other labs in Shanghai. That advantage is the price. Specifically, processing is just cheaper at Film Park than at Weima.

For a simple roll of 35mm C-41 colour negative film, we’re talking 40 RMB at Weima and 25 RMB at Film Park.

As far as the reliability, I have no complaints with the film I’ve had developed there. However, at the time of writing, that’s only been one roll compared to around ten at Weima. That said, that doesn’t mean any future rolls I take there will have anything bad happen to them.

Other people I’ve spoken to have only said good things about Film Park so, while I’ve not personally used them as much as I have Weima, they do appear to be pretty reliable.

The service itself was pretty similar to Weima too. English-speaking staff, the ability to put my scans on a USB stick I left with them, and a three-day turnaround.

The main downside I see with Film Park is that – at the time of writing – they don’t sell film. Unless you want motion picture film, that is. But I don’t and probably never will.

I’m sure they have their reasons for this but it means they’re not the convenient one-stop shop they could be.

Thoughts on buying and developing 35mm film in Shanghai

While I can’t detail every film lab in Shanghai, there are a couple of analogous elephants to address in this analogue room.

The first is Taobao. If you just want to buy film at a low price, look on Taobao. I think you can also send your rolls off to Taobao accounts to have them developed.

In both cases though, putting your trust in these services is completely down to you. You might save money but I personally prefer to deal with people in person.

The second thing to mention is the couple of film shops at the huge Xing Guang Photographic Equipment market. I’ve bought some rolls from there and they were at a lower price than Weima. Not hugely cheaper, but still cheaper. The problem here is I’ve heard poor feedback of their processing services.

That’s made me not use them which means I can’t recommend them.

If we forget Taobao, it seems to me the physical locations I’ve used in one way or another in Shanghai can be summed up as follows:

• Weima is a one-stop shop but is the most expensive
• Film Park has cheaper processing but no film for sale
• Xing Guang has cheaper film but apparently unreliable processing

If you’re wanting to process your latest exposed film and buy your next one, I think this in turn means:

• if money is no object and you want to save time, go to Weima, do both and be done with it
• if you have more spare time than money, buy at Xing Guang and develop at Film Park

I don’t know which of those best suits your circumstances. The former is more expensive but the latter involves more traipsing. Ultimately, it’s up to you what you want to do.

It’s worth saying again that there are alternatives to Weima, Film Park, and even Xing Guang in Shanghai. I’ve just never tried them. If and when I do, I’ll add them to this post.

If you have a place you go to that hasn’t been mentioned here and want to give them a shout, do so in the comments below. We could then see about getting them added in.  😀