As for cost, resin printing can be as cheap or as pricey as you want to go. Last gen printers can usually be found for hefty discounts, especially if used. As for which ones to look at...well it depends. There's a difficulty curve to printing larger things or more things on a plate because more cross section = more suction = greater chance of support failure.
The 6"-ish printers are great for just minis and whatnot. "Medium format", the slew of 10 inchers are good for tanks and other large models, and also printing tons of dudes at the same time. There's also stuff like 13-16" printers that are huge (and expensive), but idk if I would use those for actual models...maybe large scenery or less detailed large models because their pixel size really starts ramping up and you can lose finer details.
If I was going for "small format", the 6"-ish printers...well it's actually been awhile since I've owned one. I know the Elegoo Mars series is pretty popular and if you're on a real budget there's usually good deals on the last gen Mars 3....I sometimes even see them go on FB marketplace for like $100-$120.
Medium format is all I really know nowadays. I owned an original Elegoo saturn (sucked), Creality Halot Mage (was okay, I got it for like $240 so it was cheap), and currently own an Anycubic M5S (has been pretty solid) and both an Epax E10-4k (now upgraded to 8k) and their new E10-14k.
Actual build quality of Epax blows away Elegoo, Creality, and Anycubic. More metal used in the chassis, thicker metal parts such as the build arm, deck plate, etc. They design their printers for upgradeability. Still made in China like every other printer, but the company is based in NC and support/shipping has always been fast.
Phrozen is another one. Never owned one, but their customers usually stick with them and I believe their build quality also beats the former 3 companies. This shows in price. The typical 10" printer from Epax and Phrozen is like $750-$800. The other 3 companies are $500 and under depending if you get the pro, ultra, whatever higher "trim" models. The exception is that right now the Epax E10-14k is in "preorder" sale mode and is currently $550, no tax free shipping. I had mine within a few days or so and can say it's gonna be a fine machine.
Actual material cost can vary a lot. I generally buy whatever resin is on sale. Those 2 sorcerer dudes were printed with some anycubic "eco" resin I got for like....$3/kg (extremely cheap). Generally anything under $20 is cheap. When I first started I used to buy $35 Siraya Tech resin and thought even that was fine because 1kg of resin can make probably a 1000pt army.
I haven't noticed any detail difference in the resins I've used, it all comes down to calibrating your settings for each brand, type, color you use. Some people get lazy and don't do this and thus get shittier results and blame the resin. What will change sometimes is the mechanical attributes. Brittleness, shrinkage, etc. You can mix cheap resins with a bit of much more expensive "tough" resin to lower brittleness...lots of info about that online.
*Edit* Different resins can have different optimal temperatures. Printing in a colder area, or even one with drafts can fuck prints up. I keep my printers inside of enclosures with a heater that keeps the temp at about 30c. This is probably one reason I get pretty consistent prints.
Tools and shit can be cheap, or expensive. Some people go out and buy expensive cleaners and use the wash and cure machines. I'm a cheap sob. I bought 2 sealable rice containers off Aliexpress and filled them with 99% IPA. The 1st container gets most of the excess resin off and gets dirty quick. The 2nd bin is for a finishing wash and stays fairly clean. For curing I started with a cardboard box lined with foil and stuck UV led strips to the sides. Higher wattage the better UV penetration into the resin (important for curing inside hollow models).
PPE? Here's where people get salty. I'll be honest. I don't wear a mask and I don't use gloves most of the time. I don't huff the fumes nor do I spend time near the printers and soon they're all going to be banished to the garage. I do put gloves on if I will be directly touching wet resin if only because I hate the feel of it. But just grabbing the build plate and dunking it in the alcohol? Nah. Maybe I'll get mega cancer in 20 years. Maybe the guys wearing hazmat suits to grab prints are just being massive pussies. That's for you to decide and will cost as much as you need it to.
