How to become a photographic products machine operator

Official title: Photographic products machine operator

Also called: Colour printer operator (photography), Darkroom man (black-and-white developing), Darkroom man (colour developing), Darkroom man (photo printing), Developing machine operator (motion picture), Film and photographic paper maker, Film drying machine operator (motion picture), Film printer, Paco-machine operator, Photograph developer, Photograph printer, Photograph printing machine operator

Photographic products machine operator operates and monitors equipment which makes photographic film and paper and which processes exposed photographic film and makes prints.

Main tasks

• Operating and monitoring equipment which makes photographic film and paper
• Operating, monitoring and testing photographic processing and printing equipment, and maintaining operational standards
• Preparing exposed film for different processing batches in dark rooms and dark chambers
• Inspecting images, films, prints and adjusting settings on print-making equipment to produce required colour, brightness, contrast, number, size and type of prints
• Adjusting settings and running automatic developing equipment
• Operating equipment to transfer film to video tape or other electronic media
• Performing photographic processing related tasks
• Operating automatic equipment (in retail establishments) to develop colour negatives, prints and slides

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Chemical processing/products plant/machine operator
• Pharmaceutical products machine operator

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Questions people ask

Will AI change the work of a photographic products machine operator?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026