Photography website PetaPixel shares a guide to purchasing nice gear on a student budget. The heart of their technique is to purchase exclusively used lenses. The best way to get used lenses? Search out package deals:

It's pretty much always the case that someone selling multiple items together as a package must sell it for significantly less than the sum of each item separately. They are, in a sense, exchanging the extra money

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http://www.petapixel.com/2009/05/20/pro-camera-gear-on-a-student-budget/

via

http://lifehacker.com/5311378/buy-pro-camera-gear-on-a-student-budget