Todays Question: If gear doesn't matter, why is a Nikon D3400 $500 and a D7200 $1100 if they both have the same size sensor.

Its true that I think gear is no where near as important to your photography as you think. These two cameras have the same size sensor and if you put them head to head you would have a hard time determining which photos came from which camera. So why is one more than double the cost of the first one?? This comes down to a few things. One is simply the build quality of the camera. In entry level cameras the bodies are almost exclusively plastic including a lot of parts inside of the camera. On the prosumer cameras the button lay out is much more cohesive for someone who wants to take their cameras out of auto and change some settings themselves. Does that justify the larger price tag? Maybe not. When camera manufactures come out with new technology or features they introduce them on their flagship $7000 camera bodies first. They want the pros to use them to get their feedback and refine the tech more. Things like autofocus and low light performance. Then after a generation that new tech makes it to the next level down, a generation later the prosumers get it, and a generation later the entry level cameras finally get the "new" technology. By the time the entry level cameras get the newest feature, they pro bodies are already getting something even newer. So the prosumer d7200 will have more features like better auto focus and better low light performance then the considerably cheaper D3400. So if you plan of just going out and shooting in auto then save the money and get the cheaper camera but if you want to grow your photography spend the extra money for a better camera.