[tim60]

For me it was getting into B&W development and using colour slides for colour.
B&W processing taught me much about the properties of film and the images resulting.
Colour slides were so beautifully unforgiving - you had to get it right in camera.
Together these helped me learn about composition, and the technical and aesthetics of light and images.
The other unrelated things was painting classes when I was little. Never did that since I took my first photo at 17 with my grandfather's Zeiss Ikon Contessa, with half the bits broken off. After two rolls of B&W (strated by trying to take difficult low contrast images of railway equipment, I bought a Ricoh XR500, which got me into the K mount system, and 18 months later I replaced it with MX - never looked back!

[alohadave]

What gear improvement has made the most real-world practical difference to the way I actually use a camera and/or what has actually most improved the final over-all image? - I'm not thinking narrowly just about technical quality but, rather, over-all technical and aesthetic quality.

Learning to use flash has made the biggest impact on my photography.

[gofour3]

1) The used lens/camera market via the internet. When I got my first Pentax SLR in the mid 1970’s you had one option for buying Pentax gear, your local camera store. Now with the internet I can get gear from anywhere in the world and the selection is unlimited. Before the internet I had no hope of affording or finding most of the great Pentax lenses/cameras in my current collection. Getting fast lenses like the K28/2, K50/1.2 or the K135/2.5 have opened up numerous shooting possibilities that I never had with my original K28/3.5, K55/1.8 & K135/3.5 lineup.

2) Improved film emulsions over the years and finer grained faster films. When I started shooting film, 64 ISO was considered a medium speed film and 160 ISO high speed. There are also now a lot of great b&w films available with newer emulsions or resurrecting older ones from the 1950’s/1960’s. The film selection is now better than it ever has been. Trying a new film is like getting a new camera, something not possible with a DSLR.

Phil.

[paperbag846]

I'm a newcomer to this game but I would suggest that the RAW format has had the largest impact on my development over everything else gear-related. The process of developing an image on a computer is incredibly liberating (in both a creative, and fiscal, sense)... I spend more time doing that than actually taking photos (but I never stop tinkering, so no one ever sees my work)... tragedy? Unlikely.

[Brian Mould]

I`d just have to say the instant review so to check focus and exposure,I`m truly amazed at the good quality of some photographer`s film pictures...mine always seemed to be by chance...I guess that`s what set a good photographer apart.

[ivoire]

5 years ago i never used a camera, then bought a 6mpx fuji PnS. Ran into a friend that asked if i'd buy a camera and do some shoots of real estate for cash. Bought a K10 and the addiction started. Learned the basics of photoshop and now have 4 cameras and multiple lenses, lots of software and 3 computers. The digital and software offerings just jump started me. Still have the fuji, but its been converted to infrared