Is your latest camera strictly necessary?

At this point, 'strictly necessary' is limited to breathing, eating, and menial tasks, such as opening the garage door. All the rest, including, traveling and buying stuff, falls into the category of hedonistic pleasure.
 
The enjoyment even goes beyond having multiple camera types. I can actively experience how using a Nikon F3 is different than a Canon F-1N, or how using a 500C/M is different than an RB67, but that doesn’t explain why some of us will buy the exact same camera multiple times… five F2’s, two F3/T’s, two F4s’s, three FM’s, two SRT-101’s, two M6’s, two M3’s, two SL’s, two RB67’s, three Exakta VX’s, etc…

Guys just like to buy stuff. Example: of all the guys I know who play guitar, none of them has just one. When I ask what they’ve got, they stare into the distance as they count them off. Well, as a good excuse they could say they use a different tuning with each one (but they don’t).
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Let's make this simple: if I want it, and I can afford it, and owning/using it brings me pleasure, then it's necessary. Life is too hard and too short to deny oneself pleasure.
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Amen.
Some of the cameras and lenses I have were ones I could only dream of as a kid. As fun as they are using them, having them after long last is a thrill in of itself.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Let's make this simple: if I want it, and I can afford it, and owning/using it brings me pleasure, then it's necessary. Life is too hard and too short to deny oneself pleasure.
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And, I am thankful for everyone who thinks as you do. You provide funds for the development of new camera technology as well as the inventory necessary for people like me to function.
 
Hobbies are only necessary if you want to maintain sanity. Of course, some hobbies are insane.
Collecting gear can be seen on two levels: using the gear for photography, or buying and selling gear to make some money or at least to help offset the cost of new acquitions.
Buying gear with the intent of repairing and selling can be lucrative. I paid for the M9 and M Monochrom doing that.
My last purchase- a CCD 8MPixel Ricoh that is waterproof, NIB- cheap. Will be fun at the beach camera that I do not have to worry about.
 
Pál_K said:
...
Guys just like to buy stuff. Example: of all the guys I know who play guitar, none of them has just one. When I ask what they’ve got, they stare into the distance as they count them off. Well, as a good excuse they could say they use a different tuning with each one (but they don’t).
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I don't think this is limited to just guys. In the bicycle and motorcycle world where I spend/spent a lot of my time, about half my friends are women ... every one of which has multiple bikes and motobikes. I just don't know so many women into cameras, but I suspect it's the same there.

Buying cool stuff is fun. :)

G
 
My most recent camera, a Mamiya M645 1000S, was absolutely necessary as I had some money I needed to (probably) waste, and I decided to spend it on a rather heavy camera which may have frame spacing issues. I wanted one (but could never afford one) at the time, but I read in a review round about the time they were released that the reviewers used two bodies and three inserts and they had frame spacing problems, which put me off them and yet when I read/watched some reviews before I bought this one the issue wasn't mentioned, but now that I've bought one I am seeing the problem mentioned. :rolleyes:

The fact that it is 6x4.5 and has mirror lock-up and none of my other cameras have those specs is irrelevant. Honest!
 
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