So many of us... just seem to be programmed to want the greatest of everything, even if it's far beyond anything that would ever be useful to them. Resolution, detail and all of that in photography seem to be one of those things. Sure, a huge format offer a technically higher level of performance, but the question is whether it will be useful for the kind of photography that you do.
A friend of mine, who bought a FF Sonny camera against my recommendations (I said that he should start of with smaller, cheaper, more compact gear)
The one thing I think full-frame has going for it for a beginner is that with a reasonably fast lens a person can experiment with shallow depth of field, whether just to obscure a distracting background or for other creative purposes. In the 1970's, when I went from simple box cameras to something with a little more precision and control, a budget-priced SLR with a normal lens of f/1.7 to f/2 was just as capable of this as the more well-heeled users of Rolleiflex and Hasselblad medium format cameras got with their 80mm f/2.8 lenses.
I don't know what your friend bought, but a Sony a7 II with Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 lens goes for about $1100 now, and I could see that as a reasonable choice for a beginner. The Pentax SP1000 with 55mm f/2 lens I got in 1975 was typical of what beginner-level photography instructors wanted students to use in my area, and there is a lot to learn from a similar full-frame DSLR/normal prime combination today, with the bonus of its being hugely more capable for low light and large print sizes, with output quality suitable for some professional/commercial applications you wouldn't dream of attempting with 35mm film.
and decided that with the lenses he might want to use with it that the thing is too big and too expensive,
I'm curious as to what lenses he was wanting, perhaps what types of photography he wanted to pursue.
was talking to me about buying some dedicated video camera that he's read about that's got far better low light performance than the Sony he bought. The thing is that the guy is a newbie to photography and even more so to video... I guess that he just hates the idea of even putting the time into learning photography or video unless he's capturing it on the very best gear that he can get. All of this is of course silly, but it seems that enough folks think this way to sell lots of expensive photo gear. There's a thought process that's more about "what might conceivably be useful to me in the most extreme situation that I haven't yet run into?" rather than the more reasonable thought of "how good do I really need for the kind of thing that I'm most likely to be doing a lot of?
I like that question, "how good do I really need for the kind of thing that I'm most likely to be doing a lot of?" However, I do think it's more easily answered by someone who has been into photography for a while than it would be for a beginner. I think a case can be made for starting a beginner off with such diverse choices as a full-frame starter kit like I described above, a tiny sensor bridge camera like the FZ300 (which more than meets all of my needs), or something in the middle, like a four thirds or APS-C interchangeable lens camera. Depending on what a beginner ends up wanting to do, any of those choices could prove to have been just right, or something that needs to be moved away from.
Your post did remind me of something I read, and largely agree with, in an FZ300 review:
"Does the FZ300 make good enough pictures for you? If you are a professional photographer the answer will be no, as expected. But many amateur and enthusiast photographers buy more and sometimes far more camera capability than they need or can use effectively. The corporations which make cameras and the retailers which sell them . . . will tell you the FULL FRAME model makes better pictures which is true in the technical sense. But most buyers will never need or be able to utilise the full extent of that quality. And the FZ300 provides remarkable versatility in a single, all-in-one package with no need for extra lenses or any other additional equipment."
http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.com/2020/01/panasonic-lumix-fz300-re-appraisal-19.html
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