Kubuś Photo Service, the film lab a Polish immigrant opened in Greenpoint in 1994, has moved into a much larger home at 630 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. The lab was set to reopen at the new address on Oct. 13 after 32 years on Nassau Avenue, and now lists Metropolitan Avenue as its home. Its owner says the bigger space will make room for a rental photo studio, portrait sessions and large-format printing.

A lab named for a son

Andrzej Rędziniak opened Kubuś Photo Service in April 1994, a year after arriving from Poland. The first shop was at 570 Manhattan Avenue before the lab settled on Nassau Avenue. Kubuś is the Polish family nickname for his son, Jakub, and the name was the father's way of dedicating the business to him. According to the lab's own history, Andrzej ran it seven days a week for close to three decades, with three days off a year.

In November 2023 he handed it to Jakub Rędziniak, a wedding and portrait photographer working in New York since 2017. Since then the lab has added card payments, emailed scans, 120 film scanning, mail-in developing and a photo kiosk, and it now calls itself one of the oldest film labs still operating in the city.

What the new space adds

The Metropolitan Avenue shop is about five times the size of the old one. The lab's announcement lists what it is building toward there:

  • A rental studio downstairs with five sets, to be booked by the hour.
  • Portrait and headshot sessions.
  • Large prints up to 44 inches wide on a new large-format printer.
  • Faster passport photos and a bigger selection of film.

Those are listed as coming soon. Film developing, scanning, prints and passport photos are running now.

What it does today

The lab develops C-41 color and black-and-white film in 35mm and 120, with standard turnaround of four to six days and same-day or next-day rush service at an extra cost. It makes walk-in passport and ID photos with no appointment, sells film and supplies, and takes mail-in rolls from around the country, with free shipping on four or more rolls.

Hours and getting there

Kubuś Photo Service is at 630 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211, steps from the Metropolitan Av G and Lorimer St L station. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the last passport photo at 6:30 p.m., and closed Sunday. The phone number is 718-389-1339, and the lab says a person picks up.

Regulars from the Greenpoint days have a short trip: the lab puts the new shop about a 15-minute walk down Leonard Street from the old one, or one stop on the G.

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