[filoxophy]

Oh, and about digitizing, I have not been thrilled with my scanner. Admittedly, it is just a middle of the road Canon all-in-one, so you may have better results with your film scanner.

I have been digitizing using my DSLRs with far superior results, though with some extra aggravation.

[skierd]

I believe this site was the one I followed the first time I developed my own.

chromogenic.net - How To Develop Your Own Film

My one recommendation is to get a Paterson tank with the ratcheting reel--I ruined a roll or two forcing the film on an old cheapo developing tank. My two cents.

That site looks pretty thorough with a quick glance. +1 on the Patterson tank and reels, I'm of those who just mangle film trying to get it on the damn stainless reels.

On your way to Quantico, you could stop at TechLab Photo on the north side of Baltimore Techlab Photo & digital imaging | Home , when I lived there they still developed B&W and E-6 in house.

I'm probably going to have my slides and 120 color print films done by Dwayne's Photo, seems to be the most reasonably prices of the mail-in places.

This was my Photo I textbook:
Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual: Henry Horenstein, Carol Keller: 9780316373142: Amazon.com: Books



and I still refer to it occasionally.

But... as the others said developing black and white home isn't that difficult if you can make a space completely black for a couple minutes to load the film on to the reels and have access to running water who's temperature you can control. Mix the chemistry as told to on the packaging or the company's website, load the film, wash, developer, wash, fixer, wash, hang it up to dry, cut in to strips and load in to the protective sleeve.

The easiest thing to get wrong is to get fixer in the developer, or use the fixer first accidentally, in which case you'll get clear film with no images on it so it's pretty obvious what went wrong there. If your film turns purple, you didn't leave it in the fixer long enough or didn't mix the fixer properly. Keep the water temperature relatively steady or the grain will come out funny (reticulation) and make sure to tap the tank against the sink after you invert it to swish the chemistry around so air bubbles don't stick to the film (it won't develop under the air bubble).

[rodeknyt]

I did lots of b&w and E-2 (Ektachrome) processing at home when I was in high school (that was a looooong time ago). It wasn't all that difficult and I learned everything from reading some little books or pamphlets or something similar. I also bought film on bulk rolls and loaded my own cartridges. The two trickiest parts were learning how to load the film onto the tank reel in a changing bag; and keeping the various chemicals (in the E-2 process) at very precise temperatures.

The tank I used back then was a Yankee. It was all plastic, had one reel flange made of clear plastic (for the reversal exposure required by the E-2 process), and loaded fairly easily by walking the film onto the reel from the outer edge.

There's not really anything difficult involved, especially for b&w. I did all my printing in the lab at school.