All good, i know where your coming from and obviously aren't trying to put any one down... for me the equipment for the most part isn't the biggest expense, unless i'm buying stuff from the US or Europe, in which case it normally cost quite a lot more since they have to pay shipping etc, and if theres only 1 store that has it, you better believe they'll mark the price up again just because they are the only ones that have it...
But nah, living in HK its the cost of electricity and space that burns holes in the pockets big time, not to mention trying to survive in this town... i mean heck, i spent an arm and a leg on my setup, so spending money on a nice 3D background isn't a problem... just the fact over here there are quite a few cheap alternatives which sometimes look as good if not better than the originals...
And as i mentioned, its more the cost of every thing else over here that makes life difficult and not so much the hobby... i mean if you were ever in Hong Kong try grocery shopping in this town and your jaw would probably drop at how much it costs to feed a family... The amount of money we would spend before to fill 1 shopping cart in this town would feed a family for a week in Australia...