Rare Large Copper

As my regular reader will know, I was having some problems with my technology. Its probably that I am an incompetent geek and should be thrown out of that esteemed circle. However, by a process of elimination I discovered that the main cause of my problems was the video camera.

Going back to before I moved to the village I had bought one cheep from a well known auction site, and it had been sold to me with known problems. The seller omitted to tell potential buyers of these, and I ended up with it. So when these problems emerged, I realised I had been sold a duff bit of kit. It took me a while to save up, but I eventually got the JVC camera that I have been using for months. Having saved up some more of my pennies, I decided to get one that could film in Infer Red.

Well I loved my new (well new to me) Sony and because it seemed a better camera all round, its ease of use was superb, I used it in preference to the JVC. When I first tested it including uploading video to the computer everything seemed fine. What's more I could film really close up work too. Beatles, bugs you name it I pointed my new toy at it all. Eight hours worth of footage I shot. By the time I had cleared all the other stuff on to archive and backed up the back ups, I discovered that I just could not up load the film to the computer.

Well, by a process of elimination I got the problem narrowed down to either the computer or the camera. Well it turned out that it was a bit of both, but mainly the camera. Anyway after taking the camera to be checked out, I discover that this too had been a known problem as there had been a patch up repair to the cameras electronics.
This created a dilemma for me as I still wanted a Camera that could film in Infer Red and do much of the great things it is capable of. But was it worth getting another one that took the same tape format. The Sony takes Digital 8 while the newer JVC take Mini DV (Digital Video).

Well better armed with knowledge of what to avoid, I looked for another pre owned Sony. I set myself a strict limit of what I was prepared to pay, and that meant I was frequently out bid. Then I spotted one that I liked the look of regarding condition and features and I won it, staying just within my budget.

However I have been very careful about checking the camera over and testing it systematically and finally I have been able to get some of the video that I shot through the summer on to the computer.

It still looks as though I will lose several hours of the video that I shot previously as the old camera was damaging the tapes while I tried to upload it with that old camera, but at least I have not lost everything.

So you can all look forward to being bored by my films of flies and spiders. However, I hope that you are as excited as I am by the clip that is at the bottom of this posting. When I filmed this I did comment that I had seen and filmed a butterfly that was unfamiliar to me. Well, because of the problems that I was having, I all but forgot about it. Therefore I checked and double checked to make sure that I had correctly identified the species as a Large Copper Lycaena dispar. What makes it significant is that it is not native to Britain but mainland Europe. What's more it is the first sighting in the county. While it has occasionally been found in Britain this is the first time it has been found this far North. Had I not had the film as proof then no one would have believed it. Well the wood mouse's name will go into the county records for the discovery. Does a little dance of joy!