Do camera companies pay some people to post about their gear? Just curious.

I don't know but if it's not disclosed it's a big no-no. In fact, one of the specific no-no examples discussed by the FTC in explaining its rules:

See example 8 under "Disclosure of Material Connections":

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf

And if you are little guy you may decide the law of large numbers is sufficient protection to do it but if you are large camera company do you want to risk it and be made an example of ?