My long 3 week summer vacation is finished today.
Usually during this time of year, I go for long drives and camping here and there around this beautiful island.
This year, I stayed at home.
The main reason being, I had rediscovered my Digital Video Movie Camera, after having not used it for about 3 years.
I have about 8 Mini DV cassette tapes that I had filmed in locations like Otaru and Niseko, but had never transferred them onto a computer hard disk.
So I did that. Also, I was encouraged by the good results I had gotten from filming at the Hokkaido Newspaper's annual Big Fireworks Display on July 31, and
I planned to do an even better job of filming at the Hanabi in Kagura held every year on August 14.
I went to the festival grounds about one hour early, and filmed the trees illumination and the live music show on stage before the start of the fireworks.
I was able to get a place right in front of the stage with an excellent camera angle for the upcoming launch of the fireworks.
I had my tripod down low and was sitting down during the entire display.
This time, I was careful not to make the mistakes I had made on July 31 while I was filming.
I used up the entire 60 minute tape and felt really good about my filming session.
Felt really good until I got home and attempted to download it all onto my computer hard disk.
That's when I discovered the awful truth.
The camera hadn't recorded anything at all!!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD????
I got out the owner's manual and looked through the back pages.
I soon discovered what the problem was.
The recording and playback heads of my camera were DIRTY!
The manual also said that a message will appear on the camera screen telling me when it is time to clean the camera heads.
No such message ever appeared.
I went from feeling really good, to feeling really bad in the space of just a few seconds. What a fool I had been.
I never thought that the camera heads were dirty, because I haven't used the camera all that much.
I was wrong. The next day, I went to a big electronics store not too far from my house, to buy a camera head cleaning cassette, and 3 new recording tapes as well.
When I tried to clean the camera heads with the cleaning tape, I discovered that
I had to do it three times in order to get them really clean.
Then I discovered that the recording cassette tape which I had used to "record" the Hanabi in Kagura, was worn out and would not record anymore.
I will not make this same mistake ever again.
Next year for the Hanabi in Kagura I will use a brand new tape to record the marvelous show.
In my opinion, this year's 20th anniversary of Hanabi in Kagura was the best ever.
They even had the fireworks synchronized with the loud music that they were playing during the entire event.
I really missed a grand opportunity to make an excellent DVD this year.
I'll get it right next year. On Saturday, Ikuko and I went to visit the family gravesite in Kannon Dai, on the top of the hill near the former Inosawa Ski Ground.
The weather was very nice as you can see from the photo above/left. Tomorrow, it is BACK TO SCHOOL.
See you all again at that time.
Usually during this time of year, I go for long drives and camping here and there around this beautiful island.
This year, I stayed at home.
The main reason being, I had rediscovered my Digital Video Movie Camera, after having not used it for about 3 years.
I have about 8 Mini DV cassette tapes that I had filmed in locations like Otaru and Niseko, but had never transferred them onto a computer hard disk.
So I did that. Also, I was encouraged by the good results I had gotten from filming at the Hokkaido Newspaper's annual Big Fireworks Display on July 31, and
I planned to do an even better job of filming at the Hanabi in Kagura held every year on August 14.
I went to the festival grounds about one hour early, and filmed the trees illumination and the live music show on stage before the start of the fireworks.
I was able to get a place right in front of the stage with an excellent camera angle for the upcoming launch of the fireworks.
I had my tripod down low and was sitting down during the entire display.
This time, I was careful not to make the mistakes I had made on July 31 while I was filming.
I used up the entire 60 minute tape and felt really good about my filming session.
Felt really good until I got home and attempted to download it all onto my computer hard disk.
That's when I discovered the awful truth.
The camera hadn't recorded anything at all!!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD????
I got out the owner's manual and looked through the back pages.
I soon discovered what the problem was.
The recording and playback heads of my camera were DIRTY!
The manual also said that a message will appear on the camera screen telling me when it is time to clean the camera heads.
No such message ever appeared.
I went from feeling really good, to feeling really bad in the space of just a few seconds. What a fool I had been.
I never thought that the camera heads were dirty, because I haven't used the camera all that much.
I was wrong. The next day, I went to a big electronics store not too far from my house, to buy a camera head cleaning cassette, and 3 new recording tapes as well.
When I tried to clean the camera heads with the cleaning tape, I discovered that
I had to do it three times in order to get them really clean.
Then I discovered that the recording cassette tape which I had used to "record" the Hanabi in Kagura, was worn out and would not record anymore.
I will not make this same mistake ever again.
Next year for the Hanabi in Kagura I will use a brand new tape to record the marvelous show.
In my opinion, this year's 20th anniversary of Hanabi in Kagura was the best ever.
They even had the fireworks synchronized with the loud music that they were playing during the entire event.
I really missed a grand opportunity to make an excellent DVD this year.
I'll get it right next year. On Saturday, Ikuko and I went to visit the family gravesite in Kannon Dai, on the top of the hill near the former Inosawa Ski Ground.
The weather was very nice as you can see from the photo above/left. Tomorrow, it is BACK TO SCHOOL.
See you all again at that time.
