Oh, I remember what prompted me to pick up a camera case. My headphones broke. :(
I had bought these – Sony MDR-XD300 – maybe a year and a half ago in anticipation of Doom 3 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
That’s not really a long time (maybe for a Sony product), but they were under heavy use. If I’m home, I’m usually wearing headphones. Sometimes fall asleep in them. But I think what did them in was me constantly tripping on the damn cord. I would get up to do something and step on the cord, which was always a pleasant surprise for the ol’ coconut. Think I did it one too many times and the right speaker stopped getting power.
I took it apart to see if it was something easily fixable (as home stereo headphones are not really cheap). I mean, it’s nothing fancy. It’s a speaker with a few wires. Not excellently designed, though. The wire was knotted in the casing and there was a piece of plastic to keep it from putting pressure on the casing when pulled (to prevent it ripping right out when stepping on the cord, I presume). But it looked like it had been twisted and knotted more than it should have and disconnected a wire. I tried to mess about with it, but it was frustrating and it was damn hot. Too hot to look around for and use a soldering iron. I said, “screw it,” and collected myself to go to the store.
First off, the store was filled with people (you know how I feel about them). Looked around at the audio accessories (makes sense, right?) and saw a lot of personal CD players and regular headphones and that. Hmm, next to that was audio, but it was all car audio. Ah-ha! Home theater section. No headphones, though. I saw one pair of Sony Home Theater Headphones for $100 on the side of a music rack, as if they were something as pedestrian as batteries or a pack of chewing gum. The ones I bought before were $100, but on sale for $60. No deals here. Seemed like there were plenty of employees around, but not a single one noticed the freakishly tall guy anxious to spend money, mumbling something under his breath about poor selection and customer serivce (I’m at Circuit City, by the way).
So I settled with these – Sennheiser eh-150 – for $40, I think. Not quite as big or powerful, but a little more comfortable and does a much better job at blocking outside noise. Plus they have a much slimmer profile. If you viewed the large picture of Sony’s product, you’ll see that they are monstrously huge. When you’re wearing them, it looks like you’re one of those toys in the machine with the crane pulling you out. Also, they’re German. Nothing bad ever came out of Germany.
So, I make my way down to the cashier and pass by the camera section, remembering that I never take my camera out as it’s unprotected. I glance quickly and this – Lowepro Rezo 50 – strikes me. Very simple, very small. I already made my decision, and was merely checking through all the pockets, making sure I’d have enough room for everything; and then finally an employee pops over to “assist”.
I know I complained earlier, but I generally find these people annoying. Put everything in the store (as opposed to back rooms) and put them in their proper place. If you’re going to offer assistance, know what you’re talking about. I’ve helped more random people pick out a PC or camera or stereo in one afternoon than some of those freaks have in their whole career. I think this goes for a lot of jobs: the people smart enough to do them are smart enough not to take the job.
Anyway, back to the exciting saga of the camera case. So the guy comes over, “can I help you with anything, sir?”
I plaster on a phony smile and in my best hapless customer voice, “I’m just trying to remember the size of my camera, tee-hee.”
This is normally where the fun begins. These types normally don’t know too much about a lot of things in the store. They feel much more relaxed when confronted with someone who they perceive to know even less than they do. This is where you ask innocent, but specific questions. They will always tell you what you want to hear (this is especially true in the PC section). As I said, this is normally where the fun begins, but it was too light a product and he looked like he was actually busy.
As he walked away he said something about it being what the “pro’s” use. Right. If you’re a professional photographer, you are not buying anything from Circuit City. Not to disrespect Lowepro, but your retail chains will most likely carry only the lowest-rung products from a manufacturer.
I’d cede that the previous paragraph was a unfair dig at both the retail store and the professional quality of Lowepro’s products had it not been for the spring that detached from the latch on the extra shoulder strap on first use.
Caveat emptor.