yes, however, the stats on replacement value was from a survey limited to
the members of the Advertising Photographers of America with average sales
of $378k (median just under $250k), and represented the top 1% of
income/sales for photography profession as a whole - i.e., the guys doing
shots for advertising agencies and ads etc. ;-)

So think of a guy billing $1,500-$3,000/day - how much gear would s/he
have? ;-) Heck, lots of us amateurs on here have $10k in lenses and 35mm
bodies, or the same in digital gear or in MF (esp. in MF ;-).

If the pros at the top of the profession $$-wise have such moderate kits,
I agree with Gordon that lots of other pros with less variable demands can
have modest kits. Our local campus white-haired contract pro uses a Leica
kit with 3 lenses and flash for campus events and portraits of big shots
and big donors (redundant, I know ;-)

I recall a fun shot of nearly forty amateur photographers lined up and
shooting some birds in the Everglades, nearly every one of them had at
least a 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4 lens, a few "poor folks" had 300mm f/2.8
and TC ;-) My example use was more to highlight that a single pro 35mm
lens in the fast end of the gene pool and high end brand name (zeiss,
leica..) can easily eat up less than $10k budget for 35mm gear.

Similarly, an SWC is pricey, but again, $10k for MF gear would not go far
if buying rollei or hasselblad, and even bronica or mamiya kit would not
be extensive. And you would still have to buy all those accessories like
tripods and studio strobes and all that

(see http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/gadgets.html for sample camera bag contents
and stuff you probably don't need that you will still want to buy once you
read this list ;-)

grins bobm
--
************************************************** *********************
* Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 *
********************Standard Disclaimers Apply*************************