I dunno what's the intention of linking the student's C100 purchase to his/her parents, but let me guess:
1) "wow, kids nowadays really know how to rip off their parents and get their money to buy expensive unnecessary stuffs".
2) "students these days don't want and don't need to work, they can just open mouth and get their parents to buy whatever expensive stuffs for them".
3) "this guy is posing as a student and trying to get ppl to sell equipment to him at low price".
To be fair, we do not know the exact situation the student is in, and I don't see any need to link the purchase to his/her parents.
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I don't see anything wrong / exorbitant with the student wanting to buy the C100 to learn video filming. In case you are unaware, ITEs are now teaching videography using the C300. Commercial shooters are using cameras such as C300/C500.
C100 is the perfect platform for a student to grapple with the controls/functions and "feel" of the camera, so that they would know how to use the bigger brothers (C300/C500) when he/she graduates and works in commercial companies.
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I also don't see anything wrong with his/her using of the word "investment". If he/she uses the equipment to learn a skill or even makes money out of it by shooting assignments, the C100 would be a super investment. Even if he/she doesn't earn a single cent of money - the knowledge he/she gains from using it is already a solid return on investment.
The C100 would be a "consumer good" only if he/she purchases it and just put one corner - taking out less than 5 days a year to shoot, with the remaining days in the dry cabinet. I know tonnes of people who are like this: when a new camera comes out, they would go "wow, so powerful, so nice image!". But after they bought it, the camera stays in the dry cabinet >95% of the time. I know of a person spending ~$10k on a Leica M9 and 50mm f/0.95, only to spend time with it only in the house - he doesn't want to scratch it/injure it if he brings it out to shoot - this is a solid example of "consumer good". (btw, the camera and lens are kept in the leica boxes, which are then stored in the dry cabinet.)
You can say "aiya, he/she's just a student, buy C100 for what". This would be the same argument for folks who buy digital SLRs instead of manual film cameras to learn photography as a student. Again, I don't see anything wrong with it, and no need to link money/parents to the equipment. In fact, the learning curve of a student with digital SLRs is shorted by tonnes as compared to manual film SLRs.
The only thing important about the purchase is whether the person learns anything out of the purchase, but then again: it's none of our business, and no necessity to flag him/her out for scrutiny..