I started out with Ilford Universal 400. Really cheap, grainy, and is oh-so-forgiving. When I developed my first roll, I mixed the developer so badly its frightening! And the roll came out pretty darn good.(posted 8675 days ago)I use a film changing bag to load my developing reels. It takes a little bit of practice before you can do it right without looking at it, so waste a roll of film and practice loading the reels in normal light.