There are two things to consider: the film developing and method of
viewing.
    As for film developing, I still do some B&W processing at home on
occasion. I tried E-6 once and found that I didn't want to invest in the
constant temperature control that would be necessary to do E-6 consistently.
B&W is far more forgiving.
    The method of viewing may be a bigger issue. With B&W do you plan to
print at home as well? For that you need an enlarger and a decent darkroom.
Mounting slides and projecting is easier than making prints.

 IMHO if you aren't 100% comfortable with B&W E-6 isn't for you. Start with
B&W all the equipment will work later with the more complicated processes.

Read this first:

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Film%20Hobbyist.PDF

Then read this:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/Zmanuals/z119.shtml

Nick

I have done both E-6 and B/W film developing at home. I stopped doing E-6 at
home because the chemical costs did not give me enough of a cost savings over
using a lab. Also, for 35 mm, I considered my time to be of value for
mounting the film into slide frames.

With B/W, most of my developing was done in college, though I have done a
little in the last couple years. Where I live, there are few choices for B/W
developing, so I am now looking again at doing this at myself. The chemical
costs actually are a nice price break, and they seem to last longer than E-6
chemicals.

My first experiences of home E-6 were done really low cost in my mom's
kitchen. I had a cooking thermometer zip tied onto the kitchen faucet, and
balanced the tap for the proper temperature. A small timer helped with
keeping each step on target. All my bottles and containers were bought from a
photography supply store at really low cost. My early chemical kits had
everything in a few bottles, though I started with the smaller kits
(unfortunately more expensive). Keeping everything clean was probably the
toughest part. Anyway, I still have unmounted film I processed from over a
dozen years ago that still looks perfect.

I think if the costs of E-6 developing went up substantially, I might be
tempted to do my own processing, at least for medium format films. However,
the chemical costs, lifespan, and storage are other issues.

With B/W getting more inconvenient, especially for push processing, or any
unusual films, doing self developing is looking like a better option all the
time. The costs of many of the chemical choices is already very good, with
only the convenience an issue for me.

Take your time with either, and it should work out fine. Balance your choices
on the costs and convenience factors, and availability of local developing
labs.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com

I used to do a lot of e-6, but it becomes a time-sink at the kitchen
sink. I used a changing bag to get the film out of the cassette and onto
the reel. Once into the tank, light is no problem. I used water baths in
the kitchen sink to keep the chemicals at the right temperature; I bought
an official Kodak mercury thermometer and tried as best I could to keep
everything right on the mark -- not too difficult, but it requires
attention.

I followed the directions with the developer kit exactly, and I never had a
bad result except on one occasion when I didn't get the film loaded
correctly, and it came into contact with itself at one place -- no
development in that location, of course, and a lesson to pay attention when
loading the reels.

You need some gear: changing bag, thermometer, scissors, bottle opener,
reels, developing tanks, chemical bottles to keept the mixed chemicals in,
and a kitchen sink as a temperature bath. A timer which is easy to
read. Patience to follow the directions, do the timing, do the agitation,
wait, do it again. Repeat. A clean place to hang the developed film while
it dries. If you mount it, you need to cut the film, and you need
mounts. You need to store the mounted slides. You need to view the slides
(light box and loupe or projector). You may want to label the slides.

Eventually, I decided I had better things to do, and now I use a lab.

Mail order E6 can be had for less than $6 for roll (US). Unless you
do enough film at once to use up the home kits you will spend more than
this on a per roll basis. In addition you will need to control the temp
pretty closely to get proper results.
Try A&I for mail order. They sell prepaid envelopes you can put the film
in.