Julien BH spake thus:

I hope you realize you've opened a potential can of worms here.

This is like asking "what should I look for when buying a car?", or
something equally broad. So you're gonna get a lot of answers, some
conflicting.

What I'm gonna do is lay out the *minimal* stuff you need to develop photos.

First of all, some assumptions and explanations:

1. We're talking black & white here, not color.
2. "Developing photos" actually is 2 separate processes: developing film
(producing a negative), and making a print from the negative.
3. For the sake of discussion, let's assume 35mm film here, which is the
most likely format. (Let us know if you're planning on using something
different.)

1. Developing film:

You need:

o A tank and reel: comes as a set. Holds the film in the dark in the
appropriate chemical bath.
o A dark place to load the tank. This could be a closet or any dark room
(but it's got to be *totally* dark, not just kinda dark). Once the tank
is loaded, you can do processing "in daylight".
o A can opener to open the film cassette.
o A good thermometer. Best is a glass photo thermometer. Next best would
be a dial photo thermometer. You need to know the temperature of the
developer.
o Chemicals:

- Film developer: D-76 (in the US) or ID-11 (in the UK) is an excellent
starting point and will work with any B&W film. There are lots of other
developers here, but as I said, I'm trying to keep this simple.
- Film fixer: the appropriate Kodak or Ilford product, available at any
good photo supply store.
- Stop bath is OPTIONAL. You can buy photo stop bath, or you can use
dilute white vinegar (1:4), but it's not necessary.
- Some way to hang the film up to dry. 2 clothespins work fine, one at
the bottom to weight the roll of film.

2. Making prints:
This is more complicated. You need:

o A darkroom. Just a dark room with enough space for all the stuff below.
o An enlarger. Lots available on the used market now that everyone's
going digital. Good makes are Omega, Durst, Beseler. The main thing that
makes the difference in quality is the lens.
o Photographic paper.
o An "easel", something to hold the paper. If you don't have one, you
can tape the paper to the baseboard or use some other arrangement.
o An electric/electronic timer. If you don't have one, you can use a
stopwatch, but you won't get very repeatable results.
o Developing trays, at least as large as the largest print you want to
make. 8x10" is a good starting point.
o A safelight, a reddish/orangish light that you can use in the dark to
see what you're doing.
o Print tongs, so you don't have to put your bare hands in the trays.
o Chemicals:

- print developer: Kodak Dektol is by far the most common choice here.
- print fixer: Kodak or Ilford
- stop bath (OPTIONAL as above). This mainly protects the fixer from
being polluted by developer, and doesn't affect print quality.

o A tray to wash prints in.
o Some way to hang prints to dry. If you use RC (resin coated) instead
of FB (fiber-based) paper, you can just hang them to dry on a line with
clothespins.

COST:
Rather than give you an exhaustive cost estimate, let me just say that
you can get everything except the paper and chemicals CHEAP, since "wet"
photography is being abandoned on a large scale. Check local papers,
your local Craigslist if you have one, garage sales, school bulletin
boards, or eBay.

The other stuff (paper & chemicals) isn't terribly expensive. Expect to
pay about $20-30 for a box (100 sheets) of 8x10 paper.

DISCLAIMER
Remember, this is the *minimal* list of stuff you need. It won't
necessarily produce gallery-quality prints, but it will enable you to
have a lot of fun. Others will probably chime in with a lot of stuff
about "wash aids" (hypo clearing agent), filters for variable-contrast
printing, etc., etc. The sky's the limit when spending money on this
activity. But it can be done successfully on the cheap, too.

Julien BH spake thus:

Regarding this, there's a very useful resource on the Web, the Massive
Dev (development) Chart: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

It gives times for (alomst) any film/developer combination.

DISCLAIMER: The times given there are *starting points* and may need to
be adjusted for your particular circumstance. But if you follow them,
your photos will definitely "come out" (you'll get a usable negative to
print from).

I also left out something you'll need for film development, whic is a
timer. You need a minute timer of some kind. An egg timer or other type
of kitchen timer will work, or you can use a watch with a sweep second hand.

For B&W

Chemicals;

Film developer (of choice)
Stop bath ( dilute acetic acid)
Fixer,...rapid fixer

Developing tank for roll films
Or a cut sheet film tank if you lack a darkroom.
You can use tray for sheet film in a darkroom.

Changing bag to load film into tank if you lack a darkroom,

Accurate thermometer for determining the chemistry temperatures.

A stop watch or or egg timer for timing the process steps.

Lastly the Film Developing Cookbook By my friend Steve Anchell

You might want to get some catologs-- one that comes to mind is Porters
Camera Store-- many offer begining darkroom kits. I probably wouldn't buy
the kit (or maybe yes), but they usually list what comes in the kit.

There are a couple of PDFs on Ilford's B/W website that could be
helpful at the beginning:
- film development: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200629163442455.pdf
- paper development: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006211111431518.pdf
There are several other documents on their website:
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=16
Under "Applications".

Kodak's website (http://www.kodak.com) is also a mine of informations
but may be somewhat technical at the beginning.

For prices, you can check B&H or Adorama:
- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist.jsp&A=FetchChildre
n&Q=&ci=4942
- http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=category&sid=11728297323738451&cat1=Film%2
0%26%20Darkroom
There are of course plenty of other suppliers ...

Claudio Bonavolta
http://www.bonavolta.ch

**************************************************************
If you are really, really into developing film, you can go to the library or
perhaps on line and find formulas for making the chemicals from scratch.
You might have to buy five pounds of some chemicals but it can be done.
Don't ask me how though.  Ric in Wisconsin.