Random photos of stations I have visited

[kuro68000]

 

I decided I liked this version better. The headlights reflecting off the rails, and the natural sensor grain really looking nice on the sky. Controlling the noise in the darker areas was tricky, but I Think it came out okay. One for your dark mode desktop.

[kuro68000]

 

This is the first one I've done with sound re-synced from the Roland recorder. I'm not sure it made much of a difference, to be honest. The hope that the sound was more directional so make my footsteps less prominent didn't seem to work out.

 

As for the video, something in mcpro24fps changed that affected the colour. I need to look at the settings, but I did my best to correct it here.

[kuro68000]

 

The colour was hard to get right on this one.

[kuro68000]

[kuro68000]

 

This time the Roland recorder was a huge benefit. There is still a bit of wind noise at times, but the phone audio is unusable. It's 90% clipped noise.

 

 

Phone audio at the top. The Roland has huge dynamic range though, so I ended up compressing it and then normalizing it. Sounds okay I think. Davinci Resolve couldn't auto-align the two audio tracks so I had to do it manually. I guess the amount of clipping was too great for there to be a match. I wonder if the phone might be better if it had a windshield on it. Someone must make such a thing.

 

That was a nice walk, despite the wind. I'd never come to that particular Hard Off from the south. It's kinda inaccessible from public transport. Despite there being some other shops there, there are no bus routes.

[kuro68000]

 

I'm not sure about the leaves here. I don't want to over-sharpen the image, but they look like kind of a mess. Or maybe that's just what they look like.

 

You get some wonderful light in Japan in the winter. Golden tint, contrasty, and a nice blue sky to go with it.

[kuro68000]

 

Shiraoka, Saitama

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VDK6TGsNs7mQgqSZ7

[kuro68000]

 

Shinmei Shrine, Sakado, Saitama. Had issues with the sky here, it's very bright.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qButTy7UnJHKgKur7

 

I've been adding some videos to my YouTube channel from Laserdiscs I have been capturing with a Domesday Duplicator. Unfortunately the player has developed a fault. First the belt went, an easy fix, but now the spindle motor seems to have failed, or perhaps the drive circuit. Either way it's not going to be an easy fix, so my plan is to buy an identical unit that is working, and then I'll have a supply of spare parts as well.

 

I did a Japanese pro wrestling VHS tape as well, and I am astounded by how good it looks. I guess all the PAL tapes I bought in the UK to test out were just poorly manufactured or mastered, because in comparison they look awful. I have some more Japanese ones to do, including one from a series of old NHK news reports from decades past, which I'm looking forward to. I need to modify the VCR to extract the hifi sound though, which looks tricky.

[kuro68000]

 

Akigawa Station 秋川駅

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/sxc5fq6qSrcBkK3w8

 

Might be a bit too bright, but I like the contrast and crushed blacks.

[kuro68000]

 

Hard Off Tachikawa Nishisuna. It's a great store. I love arriving at the last store of the day like this.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/9xEVJh39szgvEHsh8

 

I ordered a new laserdisc player, trying to decide if I want to wait 3 months for it to arrive or pay for faster shipping. I have to say I'm really impressed with the Domesday Duplicator and ld-decode software. Some of the discs look like high definition in places, even with YouTube compression. I'm glad I got so many discs, especially as some Hard Offs are no longer carrying them.

 

Of course now I have seen how well VHS can come out as well I'm going to be forced to buy those as well..

[kuro68000]

 

Outside Kasukabe Station, Saitama. I love the mixture of sunset and xmas lights in this one, and the reflected light off the car. Got really lucky here.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EJafrD25MNVXiQgaA

[Tony Galiani]

I enjoy these photos and videos for themselves but also for modeling inspiration.

That Hard Off would make a great layout model.  And I noticed the bicycle parking - a neat idea to be included in a modeling scene - sort of unique and easy to do.

Cheers,

Tony

[cteno4]

Yes it’s those little details that are hard to find in many folks pictures as they tend to be the things you keep out of a picture! Google street view is good for looking for stuff like this as you can actually look along the ground as well for road marking, gutters, curbs, etc. details. But its these pieces that make a scene come to life.

 

Grant had embedded a lot of great detail photos like that to the forums over a number of years from his flickr account, but sadly that account died and all those images lost! I now trap any interesting photos with details like this when I see them to avoid that loss!

 

I have a nice collection of Hard offs and hope to model one, but im not sure if the name will be taken well at public events here, so need to think about that.

 

jeff

[kuro68000]

 

Sayama, Saitama. This one is just cropped from the JPEG direct from Google Camera. I couldn't do better myself with the sky because I couldn't get the mask right. Google is really good with skies.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VPLdG4HEjbqWoHqC7

[kuro68000]

20 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

I enjoy these photos and videos for themselves but also for modeling inspiration.

That Hard Off would make a great layout model.  And I noticed the bicycle parking - a neat idea to be included in a modeling scene - sort of unique and easy to do.

Cheers,

Tony

 

I love details like that too. The flags, the bicycle parking, the oddly shaped building designed to fit the plot of land. Japan has so many interesting street scenes.

 

It's not just the visual interest either, it's the feeling that someone thought about it, someone made the effort to design it. Here most of the plots are square and most of the buildings are standard designs that are replicated over and over again, with stuff like parking being according to regulation and random decrees from the local council. It's so impersonal and sterile, the opposite of Japan.

 

 

 

Iriso Station, Sayama, Saitama.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/RCqPqqb8v3vyGE4v5

 

Here's another example of what I'm talking about. There are so many little details, like the bit of fencing right in the centre of the frame, by the tracks. There must be a story behind that. The whole scene looks a bit cluttered, but also clean and tidy. Everything in its place. There is history here, decades of additions and alterations, among original fixtures. Not a single bulb is out, it's all been maintained.

[kuro68000]

 

Kasukabe, Saitama.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HY72FfGjJRX66Fk28

[DD13]

On 4/24/2025 at 11:23 AM, kuro68000 said:

 

Sayama, Saitama. This one is just cropped from the JPEG direct from Google Camera. I couldn't do better myself with the sky because I couldn't get the mask right. Google is really good with skies.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VPLdG4HEjbqWoHqC7

Cool!. The big white building on the back would be a nice structure for any industrial layout. 

[kuro68000]

 

2024.12.26 Koshigaya, Saitama

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/eAMLtoy2YcMLMVbeA

 

I've figured out what I need to do for the colour on these videos now. I should have embedded the colour data in the files, but had the option turned off, so I had to guess. I've enabled it now, but it presents a new issue.

 

The app I use, mcpro24fps, does much better video quality than the Google camera it seems, especially at night. The problem is that it is designed for pro film making, so the colour it records looks very flat and unrealistic. It's a bit like RAW photos from cameras, they omit all the processing that makes them look good and you get the raw sensor data, which is better for editing.

 

So the issue is that if I want to post the unedited videos as I'm travelling, they are going to look bad. I suppose I could try editing them on my laptop. To be fair most of the time I end up just replacing the sound, and doing a basic fade in and fade out at the ends. I will have to experiment a bit.

[kuro68000]

 

Sano, Tochigi.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FKqVzkrwnw8owZKr5

[kuro68000]

 

Misato, Saitama.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mTuuqk14amksvC2c7

[kuro68000]

 

Kozu, Kanagawa.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/SDkAS9dR1XM2acrdA

[kuro68000]

 

Numazu, Shizuoka.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Da1XWhC4AB3t9Qbx5

 

I love how parts of Japan can be so dark but so safe.

[miyakoji]

Thanks @kuro68000 lots of great images.  The pictures of suburban and rural stations in the evening are great, and seem so familiar.  Where the hell am I, how long will it take to get home, and what's for dinner?  lol

[kuro68000]

15 hours ago, miyakoji said:

Thanks @kuro68000 lots of great images.  The pictures of suburban and rural stations in the evening are great, and seem so familiar.  Where the hell am I, how long will it take to get home, and what's for dinner?  lol

 

I'm in two minds about the availability of decent late night food in Japan. On the one hand it's very convenient and helps resist the temptation to eat junk, but on the other it does encourage burning the candle at both ends.

 

Anyway, I have made a script that converts audio recordings into simple videos with hopefully reasonable sound levels. Here's the first batch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be amazed if these get many views, but I like to have the sound in the background sometimes.

 

In other news my Laserdisc player is fixed and I'm doing the first train disc I have, Railway Series: vol.1 EF-63 [PILW-1256] レイル・ウェイ・シリーズ1-最後のシェルパEF63・碓氷峠最終章.

 

Interesting that they titled it "railway" and not "railroad". Probably some historic reason for that, like how they ended up with a mix of 50Hz and 60Hz mains electricity.

[kuro68000]

 

Numazu, Shizuoka.

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/mzVYqZNf3d5QZdLY6

 

Can't decide if this needs rotating a bit, or not.