You then pay off your outstanding debts if you think there is risk you will be paying out more in the near term... That's why you only carry debt when you could otherwise afford something. Literally thats the point. Realistically though its even better if you lose your job because you have the cash in the bank you would otherwise have sunk into an asset.

You can’t pay it off if you weren’t able to afford it up front. You’ve changed the scenario from “I can’t afford the full cost but can afford monthly payments” to “I can afford this and am using monthly payments as an interest free loan”.

Go read what I said, the premise was you can afford the item outright but it still doesn't make sense to if you have interest free credit available.

Ideally you have an emergency fund so it doesn't matter. But compared to paying the cost up front I think you'd be better of using BNPL actually. You'll have more cash on hand to pay for necessities like food/rent, in exchange for a ding to your credit score if you don't have enough money left over to pay the monthly payments on the camera you use for your budding photography business