Travels with Tackawanna 13: the heart of Aizuwakamatsu

Last month, before leaving for Kyoto, I purchased an action camera. I'd always wanted a GoPro, because of its ruggedness and its ability to be mounted outside of a car. However, GoPros are notoriously expensive, even more so in Japan (anywhere up to a 30% increase over US prices). No way my broke grad school ass can afford one. But after some searching online, I found myself a new action camera. It's from a British company called Olfi. I watched a video comparison test online and found the Olfi to be on par, if not better, with one of the new Hero models. Therefore, I took the plunge and purchased a camera, a small accessory kit, and a handheld remote used to operate it from a distance.

However, this did not entirely complete the setup. I lacked two things: one was an actual mount to put on my car, which was not for sale on Olfi's website, and the other was an appropriate power cable that could run from out of my USB power adapter in Tackawanna, out the left window, under the left side of the hood, and out towards the front for the camera to stay connected to while driving. For the former, I discovered that the Olfi's mounts were actually cross-compatiable with GoPro's mounts. Therefore, I went to a local electronics store and purchased a GoPro suction cup mount for vehicles. For the latter, I purchased a three-pack of three-meter nylon-braided microUSB cables and some 3M special-purpose heat shielding tape. One night after dinner, I put on the new Dave Chappelle stand-up special on Netflix and sat at the dinner table wrapping the section of one of the cables under the hood with a solid layer of the heat-shielding tape.

Now, I have what I had originally wanted for Tackawanna; an action camera on an external mount that can be constantly powered from my car. And to top things off, even with the mount, and the extra cables, and the [rather pricey] tape, I STILL paid $100 less than buying the newest GoPro Hero Session. Needless to say, I'm very satisfied with my purchase. I've actually already used it for my last two posts. I'll still be holding onto the old dashcam, as that will be there for insurance purposes in the [hopefully non-existent] case when I'll need to prove what happened in an accident.

Last weekend, the weather in Aizu hit the low 70s, although there were still no cherry blossoms outside. I decided to enjoy the new weather and test my full setup for the first time. I drove directly from the University down Chuo and Shinmei-dori, aka National Route 118, before turning around at the Ashinomaki Onsen area and returning back to the University the same way.

Here, however, was where I ran into a problem with the camera itself. Ever since performing a firmware update on the camera, the remote stopped working, and the camera would cut off recording after 28 minutes (maximum file size). I will give Olfi some credit thanks to their tech support, because I was able to reset the remote pairing, as well as learn that my SD card apparently wasn't strong enough to maintain the transition between different video files. The camera doesn't come with a detailed manual, and online instructions are scarce and sparse, so take that as you will.

Because the video kept cutting out after that time, and the ride back towards the University was mostly stuck in traffic, I've cut the videos in both directions to end at the same arrival point: an intersection in the southern portion of the populated area of the city. So with the lack of cherry blossons and irregular edits in mind, please enjoy the beauty of this wonderful city in the midst of spring.

-wp