A Brisbane film processor says he is run off his feet trying to keep up with people wanting to develop traditional film prints.

Similar to the resurgence of vinyl, using and processing 35mm film has gained in popularity amongst photographers young and old.

Phil Gresham has processed film for more than 25 years and said he had recently seen a jump in requests.

"We get four or five customers daily who want film processed and lots of phone calls asking us if we do it," he said.

Film canisters lined up to be processed. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

"It's all ages that are doing it — they want to shoot traditional film as it's cool again, film is not dead."

More thought, better shots

Mr Gresham said the demand came not only from hipsters shooting film, but baby boomers who were picking up their old cameras.

Film negatives are processed and cut before being printed. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

"Unlike the iPhone, where you blast off shots, when you only have a roll of 24 or 36 [shots] you really think about it," he said.

"The quality of the photos we're getting on film today are probably better than we ever got.

"There's many professional photographers who have gone back to shooting [with] film as they can't get the quality they want from digital."

The magic of opening prints

Mr Gresham said film fans enjoyed receiving their prints and opening the envelope once it was processed — something many younger shooters had never experienced before.

Surprise shots are among most rolls printed. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

"There's that excitement of getting photos printed, and for many it's the first lot of prints they've ever had," he said.

"They get that wonderful feeling of opening their prints.

"It also means they will have something for generations to come."

In the '90s there was close to 500 mini labs processing film in south-east Queensland, but now Mr Gresham's family business in Taringa is one of the last.

"We stocked up on spare parts for our printing machines as we saw it [the digital surge] coming a long time ago," he said.

"We also sought out film and Kodak are now producing a range similar to what they had way back when.

Once processed, the film canisters are no longer needed. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

"When it comes to cameras, op-shops and grandparents are being asked for SLR film cameras.

"Many of the cameras just need a battery for them to work again."

As well as film processing, Mr Gresham said many photographers wanted old negatives and slides converted into digital format or printed.

"We had a customer arrive with a box of more than 2,000 negatives to be converted to prints," he said.

"The demand is certainly there."