Indisposable Review: A Modern Film Lab

We recently got the chance to test out Indisposable, a film lab that specializes in disposable cameras and takes a bit of a different approach to how to buy and develop your film.

Check out the Indisposable website and Instagram.

What is Indisposable?

Indisposable is a film lab that offers a more modern and whole picture approach to buying and developing film.

When you purchase film from Indisposable, the developing and scanning costs are already included, and they provide you with everything you need to mail the film back to them for developing after you’re done shooting.

They also have an app in addition to the website where you can view and download your images and even share them with friends.

If you are newer to film or just like a simple one-step process for everything, this is a great option. You don’t have to find a separate lab (or understand all of the scanning lingo), figure out shipping, or anything like that. Every bit of the process was really simple and easy.

There tagline is The Simplest Way to Develop Film, and they totally achieve that goal. The process is designed around that philosophy, and it really does fill a need of making the world of film photography a little less confusing.

You have got to love a new film photography company that is making film accessible to new shooters. Yes to keeping film alive!

Indisposable and Disposable Cameras

One of the best parts of Indisposable is that they specialize in disposable cameras.

If you’ve ever tried to get disposable cameras developed at other labs, you know this is an area of the film industry that could use a little extra love and attention.

Many labs charge extra for disposables and some labs don’t even accept them.

And then the scans! It is tough to find a lab that handles scans for disposable cameras well. They are usually pretty blah, but I was so thrilled with the quality of my disposable camera scans from Indisposable.

Again, this is another way Indisposable is reaching out to new film shooters. Disposable camera are fun, easy to shoot, and a great introduction into shooting film.

How Does the Process Work?

Note: This process is for when you order film from Indisposable, which includes return shipping, developing, and scanning.

You can also just send them film and disposable cameras for developing as you would any other lab. That process would start below at Step 5.

Step 1: Order Your Film

Head to the Indisposable website and order your film and disposable cameras.

I tested this out with one disposable camera, the FujiFilm QuickSnap, and two rolls of Kodak Portra 400 in 120.

They have a simple checkout process, so there are no extra options for scanning or developing. You can’t have your film pushed or ask for scanning preferences like you can at some of the other mail-in labs.

You can expect a neutral look for your images, but if you’re used to having your images scanned for shadows or something very specific, this may be a bit of an adjustment. The process is easy and the scans are high quality, but you do lose that extra amount of control over your images.

Step 2: Receive Your Film in the Mail

The film arrives packaged in a bubble mailer, and you’ll also receive a pre-paid shipping label to mail your film back to them for developing.

But save the bubble mailer! You can use this to mail the film back to them. They suggest doing it this way, and it’s a great way to save on packaging and be a bit more environmentally friendly.

I didn’t realize this and hacked up my bubble mailer when I opened it. I was able to tape it back together for mailing, but it definitely wasn’t the prettiest package.

Step 3. Shoot Your Film

The fun part! Go out and shoot all of that new film.

Step 4: Mail the film back to Indisposable.

Package everything back up in your bubble mailer. You don’t need to add an order form or anything. They grab all of the info they need from the shipping label.

You literally just put it all back in the mailer, stick on the pre-paid shipping label they sent you, and pop it in the mailbox.

Honestly, this was so great. I send film to a lot of different labs, and it is always a pain to track down a mailer, print the order form, and get to the post office for a shipping label. With Indisposable, it took no effort at all. Super easy.

Step 5: Wait for Your Scans

I had my scans in about a week from the time I shipped them. They don’t have a turnaround time listed, but I had the scans back for my 3 rolls in about 3 days after they received the package. Super fast turnaround time!

When you’re scans are ready, you’ll get an email with three different ways to check out your scans: on the Indiposable website, on the Indiposable app, or a direct link to download.

I was able to see my scans as soon as the email came through!

How many times have your scans come in from a lab and the only way you can view them is if you download the zip file? I have gone through this so many times!

You can’t get them on your phone (without special apps to view zip files), and you have to wait and get them downloaded from your computer. Knowing your scans are ready but not being able to view them is absolute torture.

Indisposable made this super user friendly. I just clicked the link to their website, logged in, and all of my scan were there. Then, I could wait to download them when it was convenient.

Step 6: Downloading Your Scans

You can download your images from the app or from the link in the email.

And while you can view your images on the website, you cannot download them from that page yet, but Indisposable is working on this feature and it should be updated soon.

When you place your film/developing order, you cannot choose a scan size, but my scans were nice and large with JPEGs at over 4000 pixels wide for the 120 and over 3000 pixels on the long side for 35mm.

This is perfect for printing and anything else you’d want to do with the scans.

Indisposable will also be offering high resolution TIFF scans soon, so keep an eye out for that.

The Indisposable App

Indisposable also has a free app available on iOS to view, download, and share your images.

I found the app very easy to use and a great way to keep track of all of your film scans. It was so helpful to have all of my scans available on my phone without having to deal with the process of downloading the images from my computer and then transferring them to my phone.

With Indisposable, you just open the app and the images are ready for you.

Indisposable calls your scans Reels, and you’ll have a new reel for each roll of film. Once you download and log into the app, you’ll find all of your reels right there on the homepage.

Open up a reel and see all of the images from that roll of film. Here, you can save all of the images to your camera roll, rename your reel anything you’d like, and set the cover image.

You can also tag friends who appear in the images. Your friends will then have access to those images if they download the Indisposable app.

When new scans are available, you’ll get a notification on your phone.

And if you don’t have an Apple phone or prefer not to use an app, you can access your images on the website as well. I love that the app is a bonus feature and not required to view your images.

My Image Results

All of the scans in this post are straight scans just as I received the images from Indisposable. The only editing I did was to straighten all of my wonky horizon lines.

I was thrilled with my scans!

I thought the disposable camera scans were fantastic. The colors were great, rich and vibrant with that vintage disposable feeling. They really brought out the best from my images.

My 120 scans also looked beautiful. They had very neutral but lovely colors and contrast. I tend to like my 120 scans a bit brighter and with more contrast (just a personal preference), and with a couple fast tweaks in Lightroom, I had them exactly how I wanted them. (The images in this post are not tweaked at all and are the straight scans.)

I would rank their 120 scans far better than basic scans you’ll get from the other professional labs but a bit below the premium scans you’d get from those labs. And that is just because Indisposable doesn’t give you options to dial in your preferences. They go for a simpler, more straight forward approach, and I’m all for it.

What I Loved

There disposable camera scans were some of the best I have ever seen from a disposable! You can really tell that disposable cameras are a passion of theirs.

Most labs seem to treat disposable cameras as a bit of an afterthought and they don’t like working with them or the negatives. It was fantastic to work with a lab who focuses on this and brought the best out of my images.

I cannot wait to order more disposable cameras from them!

I also loved the process of having the developing services combined with buying film.

I would not have guessed that I would have been so into this. I can see how it makes the process much more accessible for new shooters, but I thought I would have pretty neutral feelings about it.

Not so! I loved it!

I could take care of everything from my house. I didn’t have to buy any other supplies to deal with shipping. I didn’t have to wait to send off my film until I could get to the store or the mailbox. It was a dream.

Final Thoughts

Indisposable fills such a needed space in the film community. They are a quality lab that is incredibly accessible and easy to use.

Most mail-in film labs are designed for professional film photographers shooting weddings and client work. The ordering process is complex, and it can be quite intimidating for new shooters or hobbyists.

Indisposable goes a different way with it and created a process of ordering and getting film developed that is super user friendly, not to mention a completely modern feel with their branding and social media.

It feels like the bridge we need to keep film alive and get newcomers excited about shooting that first roll of film.

Check out the Indisposable website and Instagram.

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Kathleen Ellis

Kathleen Ellis (Kathleen Frank) is a fine art and travel film photographer and the founder of Shoot It With Film. Find her other articles here, such as 5 35mm Film Cameras for Beginners and 5 Best Point and Shoot Film Cameras.

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