Photowalk and Shop

With all the new lenses I’ve been buying, I’ve outgrown the bag that the camera was given to me with. The local stores have a limited selection, and I wanted to physically have a look before purchasing. So this past Saturday, Trush and I headed downtown to look at tripods for him, a new bag for me, and the chance to take a photowalk through part of the city.

Our original plan was to park at his buddy’s place, and walk along Queen St from the Crumpler store to Vistek taking pictures along the way. Making for a 5KM walk (one way) and in sub -10C temperatures with snow squalls those plans needed to be changed.

We started off at Vistek as they carry a number of tripods, bags, have good prices and their store is around the corner from the highway exit. I had a pretty good idea that I wanted a Crumpler bag, and at that, the 7 Million Dollar Home (I’d link to the products directly but their website does not make linking easy. Bad Crumpler).

Comparing the 6 Million and 7 Million models, I liked the storage of the 6 Million but it seemed fatter than the 7, and I wanted a slimmer bag. Trush pointed out that we were still going to visit the Crumpler store and that I should defer my decision until we saw what they carried.

After parking the car and a quick coffee stop, during which a snow squall hit again, we walked to the Crumpler store. With it’s bright florescent green exterior, the store was hard to miss, even though I had misremembered the number.

The store itself was not what I expected. I had pictured a large store with an outdoorsy type motif. Instead the store was more of a shoe box with shelves along one wall displaying all the bags. It was attractive, just not what I had in mind.

Trush was right, they had more options than what Vistek carries. The bag that immediately caught my eye was a red 6 Million Dollar Home. Even though the other 6 Million bags looked fat, the red colour seems to have a sliming effect.

Trush tested a bag for proper fit, whereas I moved right in. Everything is held nicely in place, with plenty of room to grow (room for flash and 2 more lenses).

As we left the store the sales guy called out “Make sure to blog about us, and put your pictures on flickr!”.

With the sun shining, the blowing snow dying down and my camera and lenses easily accessible it was time to take some pictures.