I'll take your discarded-too-soon cameras

I'll preface this by saying that I have no issue with people who upgrade their equipment on a regular basis. Nor do I have any judgement on how frequently people may choose to do so. Every person has different needs, choices, circumstances, and reasons; it's important that we respect that and them.

I tinker with my camera equipment kit(s), frequently. I feel that I usually upgrade and change things out more frequently, with very weak reasoning, than I should. And this is something that I have been working on; slowing down the focus on equipment and repurposing that energy on photography itself.

I'm comfortable with the equipment that I have. I have enough to create kits from different combinations of my equipment depending on different scenarios. I have an everyday setup, a setup for travel, and a setup for when I want to do more "serious" photography projects.

It feels good to have this flexibility. And I feel grateful for having the means and privelage to have gotten to this point. Photography is an expensive hobby.

Through my "process" in getting tho this point, in thinking more intentionally about what I use and what I should purchase, I started to really see how many cameras and lenses were being added back to the market by people doing something similar. Whether upgrading, changing camera systems (brands), or something else, it's resulted in a "robust" used equipment market.

I see plenty of used cameras and lenses, some just barely a year old (from their initial release). This is strange to say but, I feel bad seeing so much used gear out there. Environmental and financial waste aside, I hate seeing cameras (and lenses) that haven't been put through their paces.

So, this is a weird thing. It's a new feeling for me, something that I only recently became aware of through my own process of my own equipment evaluation. And it's very weird to feed bad for equipment. For non-living objects.

Part of me wants to buy as much of this used gear as possible, giving it all a new home with the promise of being used. As if it's the same as seeing adoptable dogs and cats at the local shelter. I just want to take them all home.

And I'm not quite sure what to make of all of this. At least, not yet.