Knack...you hit the nail on the head...LAB.
Just try to take a well thought and planned roll of film to Wal-mart, or some other lab that still handles film. You are more than likely placing your hard work into the hands of some person that does not understand the "art" of developing, or they will simply toss the film into a machine for processing.
As much as shooting film is an art, developing the film is even more so. A B&W darkroom, although still expensive, is feasible. A color darkroom is more expensive and complex.
If you know/have a really good lab to handle your film you are lucky. I think those are rare, but not impossible, today.
As for digital...
I RSS a few science sites. Lately science has made some major breakthroughs on the way light collectors handle photons. They have devised a way to get the collectors to gather more excitons per photon. Until now they could only coax one exciton per photon into the sensor.
Exciting stuff...Read on:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618144004.htmThis, and other, advancements are going to make light gathering for cameras, solar arrays, and other light gathering instruments take off!