Last-minute gifts from the photo lab

Prints from digital photos are the quickest job in the shop. Order them online before 11.00am and they're usually ready a few hours later, and sometimes they're done in as little as half an hour from when the order reaches us. The Get photos off your phone and printed page shows how to send them in.

Speed doesn't skip the colour check. We colour adjust every single image before it's printed, one at a time, in Christmas week as much as any other. Prints up to 8x12 inches (20x30 cm) come off our Fujifilm Frontier printers on genuine Fujifilm paper, gloss or lustre.

We never charge extra for a rush job. In December, though, how fast an order comes back depends on how busy we are, so the earlier in the morning it lands, the better your chances.

This is the kind of last minute gift Melbourne same day printing is good for. Pick the photo the night before. Order it before 11.00am and you can usually collect it that afternoon.

Anything bigger than 8x12 inches (20x30 cm) goes through our Canon wide format printers and comes out with a lustre finish. In that last week, ring us to ask how long an enlargement will take, and we'll tell you honestly how the queue is looking.

Ready-made frames come down to stock. In the last few days before Christmas, ring to check we still have the size you want before you make the trip to Kew East; the Photo albums and frames in Melbourne page shows the kind of frames we keep. Custom framing is made to order, so in December it's case by case with the rest of our work. The Custom Picture Framing page explains how it's done.

Canvas orders close on Thursday 10 December. After that we can't promise a canvas print or a canvas collage for Christmas.

Tape transfers, scanning and restorations are worked out case by case, depending on our workload. December brings us so much work that larger jobs handed in that month are usually ready towards the end of January, and we'd rather say so at the counter than have you plan Christmas morning around a box of tapes that isn't back yet.

Every service's last day is set out in one list in our Christmas order deadlines guide. For presents that take longer, such as a restored photograph or home movies on USB, Christmas at PhotoQ goes through what we make. Bring it in anyway and we'll give you a time frame at the counter.

On Thursday 24 December, digital print orders that reach us by 9.00am are ready to collect at 1.00pm. That's two hours earlier than the usual 11.00am cut-off, so don't leave it to mid-morning. We shut at 2.00pm that afternoon and open again on Monday 18 January.

Until we close, our hours don't change: Monday to Thursday 10.00am to 5.00pm, and Friday 10.00am to 4.00pm. We're closed on weekends. There's no need for an appointment, and you'll find us opposite the Harp Hotel on High Street.

A gift card can be bought online at any hour, including after we've shut on Christmas Eve. It's emailed as soon as you've paid, or on the morning you choose. If you'd rather hand over something on paper, put your own email address in, print the card at home and wrap it.

They can spend it on prints, enlargements, canvas, framing or anything else we make, over several visits, and whatever's left stays on the card. It's good for three years and there's never a fee for using it. They type the code at the checkout or read it out to us at the counter.

We take orders Australia-wide by post, and we post and express post every day we're open. If prints need to travel interstate, order as early in December as you can and ring us first to talk about timing.

A gift card is the easy one from a distance. It goes by email, so there's no parcel to wait on.