Barry , I am with Kevin here on the 'bang for buck' theory as some of the best amature AP's ever have been made with the awesome ED80 , HEQ6 and DSLR , a category #2 set up in your post
You don't need 25k worth of gear to take good AP's just modest equipment and lots of computer time
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ps. I am like Matt here , strictly visual but do see the talent here on IIS and respect the people that take the time to process beautiful images and post their awesome results for us to admire .
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Brian.