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My biggest expense is definitely photography.As others have said, yes, dive gear is expensive, but so is the equipment for many other hobbies.
I just bought a Sony A7iii camera and kit lens. After taxes, it came in at just over $3100 Cdn. For that much money, I could have replaced all of my dive gear (3mm wetsuit, BP/W reg mask & fins). I am a recreational diver, so I don't need specific gear. I would likely have some money left over to put towards a trip. And that was just for a camera body and a kit lens.
If we take into account that this spring, I switched from Canon to Sony and I have replaced all of my lenses too, dive gear no longer seems outrageous. This spring, I have bought a 70-300mm lens, a 16-35mm lens (each in the neighbourhood of $1600 Cdn). In total, I have bought a little over $6k in camera gear and I have a camera body and 3 lenses, one of which is a kit lens.
For $6k, I could have replaced all of my dive gear and spent a week on a LOB.
So, IMHO, dive gear is expensive, but it is not unlike other hobbies.
Cameras: Canon 70D, T1i, and Powershot S110 - The S110 is my diver camera in a Polaroid housing (because there is no way I'm spending thousands on a DSLR housing)
Lenses: Canon EF-S 17-55/2.8, EF 100/2.8L Macro, EF-S 10-18/4.5-5.6, EF-S 18-55/3.5-5.6 (kit lens), EF-S 55-250/4-5.6, EF 50/1.8, EF-S 24/2.8, and Sigma 100-400/4.5-6.3 C
Two flashes, two studio umbrellas, light stands, three seamless back drops, backdrop holder, SD cards of all sizes, 2 batteries for the 70D and S110, 3 batteries for the T1i, ND, polarizing, and graduated ND filters of all sizes...
For the sake of my very healthy heart, I'm not going to add all that up. I want to keep it healthy.
Photography wins partly because my scuba equipment doesn't include anything other than my mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit, sharkskin, Vyper Air, and a few odds and ends like DSMBs and reels, small lights. Once I add in a set of regs and BCD, it might start to get close. Oh, and then there's my kayaks (yes, with an s), skis, bicycles, wood shop... you know what? I'm just going to stop now.