Do we non-pro photographers work to a (sensible) budget? For 99% of us the answer has to be ‘yes’.

If the answer is ‘yes’, I seriously wonder why so many buy full frame. I would contend that for most budget levels one can develop a kit based on a crop sensor camera that will take better photos than a full frame kit at the same budget level.

Let’s shop for a typical Canon ‘general purpose’ kit, with a budget of $5000 on the grey market.

Which would you rather have? Same focal ranges are covered.

7D body $1270
10-22mm f3.5-4.5 $700
17-55mm f2.8 IS $935
70-200mm f2.8 IS $2220

TOTAL
$5125 3.35 kg (7.4 lbs)

5D mk2 body $2000
17-40mm f4 $700
24-70mm f2.8 $1300
70-300mm f4-5.6 IS $1320

TOTAL
$5320 3.26 kg (7.2 lbs)