I've taken a lot of black and white pics in the past with my Leica and I found that ilford just suited me the best. I really enjoyed how everything came out and for some reason it made even my bad pics look good. As for a dark room, if there is a junior college down the street i've found that if you walk in looking stressed, they don't ask to many questions and just assume you're a student working on a project. While I do not in any way condone this...ahem...It's just a thought.