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A1 Photo & Video Lab
Category: Shopping Photography Stores & Services Photography Stores & Services [Edit]
1629 University Ave(between Jefferson Ave & California St)
Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 841-1233
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 9:30 am - 6 pm
Sat 10 am - 5 pm
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
14 reviews for A1 Photo & Video Lab
14 reviews in English
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Review from rodney b.
Berkeley, CA
12/14/2011
So...FAST.
Got there at 9:40 and had pictures in hand by 10:00. -
Review from Rob C.
Astoria, Queens, NY
5/10/2012
I got my photo albums all scanned here. I got all my paper photos in albums scanned to jpg files. This way I can have a backup and watch them as a screen saver on my computer. This was faster and turned out more professional than if I had spent weeks doing it myself. The price seemed very fair. I was referred to this place by Digital Pickle website.
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Review from Daniel D.
Fairfax, CA
3/31/2012
Do not bring your film to these guys, you will not be happy.
I brought two rolls of black and white film in on a saturday. They said it would take 4-5 days to get it developed and give me a CD with scans of the photos. A week later they hadn't called me, so I called back to find out what happened. They said they wait 'til they get enough film to get it developed, because developing is expensive, and it would be another 2-3 days. Ok, annoying, but not so bad.
When I got the picture scans back I thought I had screwed up the pictures. The scans looked really bad. However, I got access to a film scanner and tried doing my own scans - they look great.
As far as I can tell, they use someone else to do their developing, but they only send out photos in batches so you don't know when you'll get stuff back. The only thing they did themselves was scan the photos, which they did very poorly. Save yourself the trouble and have someone else do the whole thing.Comment from Gulshan B. of A1 Photo & Video Lab 5/12/2012
All of our work is guaranteed, any problem with any order is… More » -
Review from Travis W.
Santa Cruz, CA
4/29/2012
quick and solid super 8 transfer. footage was clean and crisp and the HD digital telecine only enhanced this. thanks!
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Review from FUPS F.
Berkeley, CA
2/22/2011
I had a great experience here.
The fellow working behind the counter was totally willing to help me print my photos from film. The first time i got my photos back (rather large prints), the color was all off and the scans were obviously too small for the printed image.
However!
I went back and said as much, and i got the prints in a much much better condition (nearly perfect?) SAME DAY.
I'll take one star for not doing it perfectly the first time... but, dang, that makes me sound like a harda**. 4.5 is more realistic.
These fellows do an awesome job. -
Review from Matt M.
Oakland, CA
11/10/2011
Total and complete ripoff.
I went to a different place to get some video transferred from tape to DVD - the guy was going to charge me $30 TOTAL to transfer 3 minutes of video (one minute from each of 3 tapes). But his machine was broken. So I went here instead.
They wanted to charge me $125 PER TAPE!!!
The guy behind the counter says "That doesn't sound right" and calls his boss. Sure enough, the price was $125 per tape. $375 TOTAL!!!
One hundred and friggin twenty five dollars per tape. I mean, seriously?!?! For something the other guy was going to charge me $30 for and when most other places charge $20 per tape?
It makes me wonder what other stuff they're massively over-charging people for. -
Review from Kavya M.
Berkeley, CA
2/11/2009
Good quality work despite the generic name! I have been very happy with everything I have submitted to them. I have had several photos scanned and printed or restored. Joseph does a really good job at playing around with the images and the prints are on archival quality paper so they last.
Also does Livescan. -
Review from Jake M.
Oakland, CA
12/15/2009
Like the review that follows. A-1 Photo is refreshingly unhurried and attentive to detail, quietly scornful of lesser competitors, charming, and made for compliments...
I stood, singularly nonplussed, in front of the mean FedEx girl at the mailing store round the way from my Oakland abode. We both stared down at a pair of very sorry passport photos.
"Eighteen dollars," she said with a mean and pathetic sass.
I sighed. "I've had a passport application rejected before because the photos weren't just right. I want to check the guidelines before I pay for these."
She bristled but stayed quiet. I left, and when I got home and CHECKED the guidelines, I knew there was no going back. No, it was time to call A-1 Photo.
Guess what? They did it right, and they did it for almost half the cost. SO worth going into Berkeley. They had way better equipment (digital, oh wow FedEx), let me approve the photos before they printed them, and all the while chatted me up on everything from how to submit my passport form correctly, to my A/V issues at home, to how to best fight an unjust parking ticket.
This was the third time I'd been there - the last two were for fingerprinting (the scam perpetrated by the state on all who work in many different schools). Those visits were similarly professional, friendly, unhurried, informative, and reasonably priced. They were nothing but patient with my scarred, almost unprintable fingers.
I haven't gotten pictures or videos processed/modified there, but from what I can tell they have heaps of great equipment and they know how to use it. I know for a fact that they only use super high quality media, so you're not paying for an easily ruined dvd DUD.
Fuck all the surly, messy, overpriced packing/copy/printing/photo stores in the world! Fight back with A-1 photo! (Note: this is not a packing or mailing store. But still.) -
Review from R A.
Berkeley, CA
3/7/2011
Nice guys. Quick service Took a very good passport photo. And I'm picky!
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Review from eric a.
Emeryville, CA
9/4/2010
Super nice service, and high quality as well.
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Review from Robert H.
San Lorenzo, CA
4/8/2010
Kudos to Joseph and Tarang for their personalized service. I had all of my home movies converted to DVD and they recognized that two reels I had brought in separately were really part of something I'd done the previous week. They combined them with no problem. Whether it be regular 8mm, super 8mm, sound super 8mm or Video Casette, their service is prompt and professional and quality. They are aptly named!!
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Review from Shima L.
San Francisco, CA
1/12/2009
Great, service and quality prints. Quick and easy...love the service...
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Review from Gali U.
Oakland, CA
4/1/2010
This is a great little shop for professional work. The guy working the gave me a somewhat technical answer that I didn't really understand. After doing some research I found that he really did know his stuff.
Not as cheap as some chain places, but you definitely get what you pay for, they stand by their work and you get the good feeling of supporting local business. -
Review from Irving S.
San Francisco, CA
7/16/2011
I wish I had as happy an experience as the other customers, but mine was very bad and costly. I took my Sony Z1U HD camcorder in to repair the cassette elevator on 3/9/11. Six weeks later they said that it was fixed (I had to call them because they didn't call as they promised). When my wife brought it home it didn't work. So on 5/5 she took the camera back to repair and four weeks later they said it was fixed (again, I had to call). The elevator worked fine but didn't record properly and the resulting recording could not be played on any other playback device such as my sony deck attached to my final cut pro. The camera now could not play back tapes that it recorded previously, before the "repair". When I called I was told first that the problem must have been in my deck, and then they blamed Sony and the HD medium and told me to bring the camera back. I was afraid to do that because twice they released a non functioning camera from their shop. I went to another technician who diagnosed their mistake and had the camera working properly again. Of course, I had to pay again. So, this is my tale of woe.
