I admit that I have larger range of cameras than I actually need. But I refuse to call myself gear junkie.

Photographers make pictures, not camera bodies – not even lenses. Better camera doesn’t make better photographer – or opposite. I am firm believer of this philosophy. But I don’t accept the thesis that camera doesn’t affect at all.

I believe that it is very important for every photographer to have a camera that suits his/her needs – needs which are highly personal. Suitable camera is one that doesn’t steal photographer’s attention. It lets photographer to focus on his/her subject, it is a extension of his/her eye and hand.

So, the answer to the question why I have so many cameras is that they are marks of the search of the most suitable camera. That search is a continuous process. I must say that I haven’t sold many cameras I’ve owned, which means that I have mostly found suitable cameras – and even more suitable cameras…

That*s about cameras and photography. But I must also admit that if I had lots of money, time and room, I would own even more cameras and lenses. Lot’s of them. But that is another story – that is a story of camera collector.

Being a collector is about admiring cameras as obejcts, precicion devices, marveling their mechanical and optical quality, respecting skill and craftmanship that has produced them.

But like I said I don’t have what i t takes to be a real collector, so I’ve fallen somewhere between collector’s and photographer’s mentality. My range of cameras belong to two groups. Those which are purely tools that suit my needs as a photographer (all my digital cameras have belonged to this group) and those which have certain value as collectables, but are still usable as photographic tools – and again, suitable. (All my present analog cameras belong this group.)