I'm in Orkney at the moment. It took six days to tow the caravan to Dunnet Bay, on the far north coast of the Scottish mainland. Offshore, but very visible, Orkney - where I now am. It's day 12 of my 38-day holiday.
First some Good News. The weather has stayed dry throughout, and at times has been really warm and sunny, even in the far north, and even on Orkney. I'm not so physically tired from travelling as I thought I might be - in fact, I feel that I should be able to repeat this long holiday in two years' time. I've done some very nice things, and met plenty of very nice people. I have bought a lovely magical ring here on Orkney (to rule them all, of course), and I've booked myself in tomorrow evening at a renowned Bakehouse, for one of their famous sourdough pizzas. I'm actually getting a subtle tan. And nothing seems to have come of that potential speeding offence! Jackie next door has been on the lookout for bloodstained envelopes from the Kent Police while I'm away. I think they have to do something within two weeks of the speeding offence, as caught on camera. It happened on 15th April, and it's now 23 days further on. There is still a faint shadow over my holiday happiness, but as each day passes without any word of doom, so my spirits rise.
But I must record an item of Bad News today. I think my well-loved Leica X Vario camera has suffered a sudden mortal blow - some sort of electronic failure - to wit, the rear screen doesn't light up when I want to take a picture. It remains dark. There are icons top and bottom, yes. A view of what I want to take, no. That's pretty fatal.
I've found a kind of workaround. I play back the last picture taken, and the screen will light up for that. I then switch immediately to Record mode, and - not always, but more often than not - I can then compose my shot on the screen and take it, because it generally stays lit until I turn the camera off. Then I need to go through the same rigmarole all over again.
Effectively LXV is limping. The pictures taken - if I can take them - turn out fine, as excellent as usual. But quick-fire photography, capturing the precise moment, is now impossible.
I do of course have my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone. That will have to step up full-time for the rest of my long holiday. It has a good zoom, every picture is sharp, and the rendition is more than acceptable. But the results from LXV were even better.
How I'm kicking myself for not bringing the little Leica D-Lux 4 as a backup camera. I nearly did, but told myself it wasn't necessary. LXV was functioning perfectly; why take along (effectively) a third camera? Silly, silly me for not doing it.
Well, LXV - which cost me £599 second-hand back in May 2022 - turned out to be a good bet. Very nearly 64,000 pictures taken in three years. Manufactured in November 2013, so now getting on for twelve years old. And yet nothing had gone wrong until now. Perhaps I just wore it out! But buying a replacement of the same calibre anytime soon is beyond my means. I'll have to depend on the little Leica and the phone until further notice.
So the little D-Lux 4 will come out of semi-retirement once I'm home again, and will almost certainly surpass 100,000 shots taken before the end of June. In fact, the shot count presently stands at 98,089 - so only 1,911 more shots needed. Then it's 200,000 to aim for.
I have a very soft spot for the little Leica, which I bought new in June 2009. I've had it for sixteen years. The D-Lux 4 was launched in 2008 and is of course totally outmoded by the cameras of 2025, but seems to be indestructible and can still turn out a very good picture. Although its small 10 megapixel CCD sensor can't capture as much detail and subtle tonality as modern cameras, and is poor after sunset, its zoom lens goes out to 24mm at the wide end, and has great potential for creative shots. Its macro abilities are just as good. And its black and white rendition is outstanding. So, actually, I'm rather looking forward to using it again full-time.
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