A1 Photo & Video Lab

I brought my camera in for repairs and it came back more broken than it was when I brought it in.
When they finally called me with a $HUGE$ estimate of repairs, they implied that it was a bad camera because I’d purchased it online. I have no idea what they were talking about, as my camera has worked fine since I bought it five years ago. It felt like they were making up stories to cheat me out of money. Plus the shutter, which was fine when I brought it in, was broken when I came in to pick it up. So they charged me $ 25 to break my camera even more. Who knows what they did to it, really. They may be fine for other things, but NOT FOR REPAIRS, which they send out somewhere else anyway. The whole thing felt extremely shady to me.

I recently had a video transferred and when we received it, there was a problem with the ending.
We did not get the video back until the day before we needed it for a special occasion
When I took it back and explained the urgency, it was corrected within an hour.
This is what I call GREAT customer service

They can print non-​standard-​size passport photos here. The attendant explained my options clearly and printed the photos promptly.

A-​1 Video Lab saved the transfer from a Sony mini tape onto a DVD. Wolf camera in San Jose was unable to do this. We thought the recording of our family event was lost. We dropped it off at The Hayward store. Edward Miller and Rickey Arthur were knowledgeable. I have since taken faded old photos and come away with colorful, detailed photos from negatives. Nice work A-​1 Photo.

Quick and efficient service. I came here to get my live scan fingerprints required for a work certification. The man assisting me was helpful and to-​the-​point, willing to explain things simply and directly. All said and done, I paid $ 69, and was out the door in under ten minutes.

A small one person shop with lots of good photography and video gear. I’ve been there several times for live scan fingerprinting, passport photos, etc. No problems.

That dude that works there is cool. He will try his best to help you find a solution to your photo and video needs and desires.

They r d best. love the service will come here again. They also do live scan and notary service.

Needed one page notarized. Ten bucks and the service guy prepared the paperwork and stamped and signed my document. Friendly service. Nice neighborhood resource.

I been using this place for all my «live scans» in the past few years (for my business license). The service is fast, friendly, easy & simple.
Just like a true LOCAL owned business should be :-).
Highly recommended.

These guys also do notary

I visted Unilocal to see where I can have my photo services done and saw A-​1 Photo. I would have to say that my experience was exceptional. Their professional customer service is hard to find and the prints on my photos were great.
I would recommend this place to friends and family!

A couple days later, I heard from A1 offering to honor their phone quote (from a new employee in training) and offering to pick up and deliver the slides. Unfortunately, I had already gone to a competitor. I give A1 four stars for trying, but it is too bad it took a Unilocal review to get them to do the right thing.

Took 2 old 8 mm tapes in the store, they converted to digital video (.avi). Gave me option of what file format, PC or Mac. Very straight forward, did what they said and in 2 days. Great job, will use again.

I don’t give bad reviews, really, but this place is so bad I can’t rate them low enough. I’ve had two different camera repairs done here, and the first time, my camera was «mixed up» with another camera and the repair I specifically asked not to have done (both when I dropped off the camera and when they called with the quote) was done anyway and A1 actually had the audacity to ask me to pay for it. At the time I thought it was an honest mistake, and ended up coming back several years later and having the single worst service experience I’ve ever had. They never called with a quote, ignored my calls for weeks, and when I finally got ahold of them, the «7 – 10 day repair» took almost a month. And of course they didn’t call in the intervening time to tell me what was up– just no word. When I called them three weeks after the quote OK, the manager told me he didn’t know where the camera or the repair man was and he’d just have to get back to me. Uh, really? Anyway, when I finally got the camera back, it came scratched up and to be completely honest– I doubt it’s the same camera I dropped off in the first place. Same model, but it came with the battery they removed and handed to me when I dropped it off, and the condition is nowhere near the same. All that for an overpriced standard repair on a point and shoot digital.
tl;dr: This is the worst service I’ve ever received which is so bad it borders on unethical. Booo. Go somewhere else.

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.

So… FAST.
Got there at 9:40 and had pictures in hand by 10:00.

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.

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.

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.)