Lago Vista Film Lab, an Austin-based one-hour photo lab and film shop, opened in San Marcos on Feb. 15.

Owner Richard Johnson opened Lago Vista Film Lab in Austin three years ago. He said there was a demand for a location south of Austin.

“The majority of our customer base is college students, and we had a bunch of students driving up from San Marcos to our store in Austin, and that’s a hike sometimes," Johnson said.

The takeaway

Lago Vista develops 35 mm film, disposable film and medium format film with a one-hour turnaround time. It is also a print shop selling prints sized 4-by-6-inch up to 24-by-36-inch prints and fine art prints.


Future plans include hosting photo walks and meetups like they currently do at the Austin location as well as same-day large format prints. For now, Johnson said he’s focused on spreading the word about one-hour photo printing.

“There’s no reason why anybody should wait,” Johnson said. “It’s 2024. If we had it in the '90s; we can have it again.”

Lago Vista Film Lab is open Monday-Tuesday and Friday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from noon-5 p.m.