In this earlier post I mentioned that in December 2022 my Leica M4-P and the Summicron 50mm lens was damaged from a rogue wave surging over me whilst I was photographing on the rocks along the southern Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.
Leica advised that the lens was unrepairable but that they could repair the camera body. The rangefinder body is now with the Leica workshop in Wetzlar, Germany and I've been advised that there is a 6 months wait for analogue camera repairs. So I will need to acquire another 50mm lens.
The film (Kodak Portra 400 ASA ) that was in the camera at the time of the salt-water accident was developed and I have recently scanned it. This is one frame:
Though I am committed to the replacement I do keep on wondering whether it is a worthwhile investment to keep using a 35mm film camera. I need to pay Leica for the repairs to the camera body and I need to buy a second hand lens. The insurance covers less than half of the cost to do this.
Though the images do look good it would have been much more sensible to have cut my losses and moved on. The accident was an opportune moment to move on from 35mm analogue photography and put the money towards a high end digital camera. I keep on telling myself that to continue to hang on using 35mm film is nostalgia, given the technological superiority of digital.
I will post some more of the salt damaged images.They vary quite a lot.