Since the '60s I've had periodic GAs attacks and bought up big - and then spent the next X years either using the equipment, trying to sell it (and usually failing), or wondering why the dickens I expended so much $$$ for the gear I bought.
Started out in 1962 with two Yashica TLRs. Sold one in1970, kept one until the early 2000s and then "donated" it to a friend who used it for spare parts. So it lives on, albeit in another body.
In 1966 I bought a Rolleiflex 3.5E2 TLR, still used, but has some lens separation so largely a shelf queen. In the '90s I was given two Rollei Ts with full kits and use those occasionally, the 16 exposure kits are a godsend in this era of super high expensive film.
1970s, I bought two Nikkormat ELs,which I still have and use nowand then. In recent years friends have gifted me with four others. Looking for new homes for them now, like giving away orphaned kittens. AIS/AI/F Nikkor lenses galore, all of which I will keep forever.
Other than buying odd cameras (a Pentax KM, a Minolta SRT101, Kodak Retinas and other odd bits), I was pretty good for about 20 years.In the' 90s I had more disposable income and GAS hit hard - a Fuji GA645(still used) and GA645wi (ditto, but nearing the end of its life).
Along came the 2000s and Ebay and I bought like a wildcat in heat - a Hasselblad 501CM (sold), two ELs (sold), a 500C (sold), a 500CM (sold last year), three lenses (still have), film backs, accessories. Also two or three Rollei TLRs, bought cheap in the vain hope of someday restoring them. Now sold.
In 2004 a local camera shop closed down and I made a successful bid on the contents - the lot filled an entire large storage locker plus three fridges for film and paper. Two Contax G1s with 20-28-35-45-90 lenses. Most of the locker contents has been sold off now, but I've kept the G1s, electronic marvels but they have given me the best color slides I've ever taken. Now rarely used. To be sold off this year, or kept until I've used up my remaining stock of +/- 200 rolls of 35 film. Don't laugh, in 2000 I had 700+ rolls...
In 2010 with retirement looming I "sobered up" and did a very hard nosed assessment of my stocks. Faced with disposing of enough to stock a respectable secondhand camera shop, I began to quietly offload, to friends, camera club members and via Ebay, as the markets improved for various film gear. $$$ I made went into my investment fund, not new gear. At long last I went into remission...
Digital now. I resisted 'til 2012, when I retired and "shouted"(an Aussie term) myself to a new Nikon D700 and six lenses, 20 to 180. In 2013 two as new D90s came my way as gifts, friends were upgrading and found trade in prices to be totally absurd. The D700 has taken 100,000+ images already and will most likely go for another year or two. When it eventually passes, I'll get... not sure yet. The D90s are used by my partner and on occasion, me.
2017 plans will be to dispose of as much of this "backlog" as I can. Enough is enough. Some of my gear will be given away to local camera club members who will use it. I have a good offer for the two Ts but will keep the E2 as a family heirloom. When I've shot the last of my (about 100) 120 rolls, the GA645s will be listed on Ebay.
Film is wonderful, but for me digital is the way now.
All the above is rather a depressing read to me. If only I had bought more wisely, and saved the $$$ I otherwise threw into all this gear. But I've enjoyed using most of it, and hindsight is always 20:20, and I have enough saved plus two pensions to see me thru to my next (likely camera-less) avatar, so...
Looking back at all this, I would say only this. Buy the best gear you can afford, even if you have to finance it. Limit yourself to those lenses you most often use (in my case, 28 and 85/90). Shoot rather than collect.
In my 50+years of active shooting, I have yet to meet a dedicated gearhead whose images rated a second look... oh, except mine, of course!
