Over the past 30-some years Liao has owned many different cameras, but for the first half of this period, he used only second-hand models.
從鎮公所的收發員到人事主任，卅多年來他省吃儉用，陸續更換過 Rolleicord, Contax, Agfa, Mamiya, Yashica, Minolta,Nikon 等相機，前半時期買的是中古相機，底片節省到一個場景只曝一次光，在沒有準備就緒前，絕不輕易按快門。