EP283: Acceptance — Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7 with Ilford FP4 Plus 125

Roll 283
Ilford FP4 Plus 125
Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7
Developed & scanned by DEP Lab
2025/8/27

If there's one word that defines 2026 for me, it's acceptance.

I'm about seven months away from turning 40, and at this stage of life, I am quite different from the person I was in my early twenties when I first entered the workforce.

It's not just my income that has changed. My health, physical condition, and interests are no longer the same. There's a road bike sitting at home, a 2017 Giant TCR Advanced 2 carbon road bike upgraded with a 34T cassette and built for climbing. Cycling used to be one of my main interests, but I have to admit that I no longer feel the same level of enthusiasm for it.

Over the past few years, I have traveled abroad frequently with my family. Nagoya in 2023, Tokyo and Kumamoto in 2024, Chicago in 2025, and Hokkaido in 2026. Each trip has been meaningful, but also expensive. With this level of travel frequency, it is simply not possible for me to save money.

Recently, I was talking with my mom at the dinner table about household expenses. Because of a government sewage pipeline project near our home, we need to cover an unexpected cost of over NT$80,000. I couldn't afford it, so I asked her for help. She paid it upfront, and starting this April, I will be paying her back monthly until the end of the year.

She agreed without hesitation, but she also told me something seriously. She believes I should always have at least NT$3 million set aside for emergencies. She knows that I rarely have savings, because after covering necessary monthly expenses, my income usually just breaks even. So the question becomes clear: should I earn more, or spend less in order to build up an emergency fund? The answer is both.

I have to admit that I no longer have the ability to travel abroad as frequently as before. While traveling is important for a child, having an emergency fund at home is just as important. The answer is quite clear.

There are many things I need to accept in 2026. In terms of work, I need to accept that my health will gradually decline, my thinking will slow down, and my eyesight will get worse. There is a real possibility that I will not be able to continue doing web design all the way until 65. This will not happen suddenly, but rather as a gradual process. I see two possible paths ahead. One is to work harder while I still can and earn ahead for the future. The other is to develop additional sources of income. I have always kept this possibility open. Recently, I have started doing photography work for clients, mainly interior and spatial photography. Although I have not formally charged for it yet, my sense of aesthetics in spatial photography has reached a solid level, and realistically speaking, I am capable of pricing my work independently.

However, both spatial photography and web design rely heavily on eyesight. In terms of risk, they do not truly diversify anything, which means this may not be the best direction in the long run. I will need to continue exploring other possibilities.

This camera, the Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7, was released in 1979 and belongs to the first generation of autofocus film cameras, around the same time as the 1977 Konica C35 AF 38mm f2.8. However, the one I have seems to have focusing issues. I am not sure whether it is a power-related problem or an issue with the lens focusing itself. At this point, I have to admit that I no longer have the patience to keep testing cameras repeatedly. My time needs to be prioritized for work.

#1
Testing autofocus through glass. As expected, this old camera did not disappoint.

#2
Beyond this wall is the riverside. The summer I graduated from junior high, I came here with friends to drink, although I honestly do not remember whether I actually drank at the time.

#3
Taken by my son. He shoots very quickly, much faster than many adults who tend to hesitate, review, and then shoot again. With him, there is none of that hesitation, which may be one of the advantages of shooting film.

#4
Also taken by my son. I suspect this might have been the point when the camera started malfunctioning, as the image is clearly out of focus.

#5
Wanhua, where layers of old and new building logos coexist within the same frame.

#6
Our car, a Nissan Kicks, has never had window tint since the day we got it. It has been seven years, and I still believe it was the right decision, as the view from inside the car remains clear and provides ideal lighting for photography.

#7
Today's plan was to attend my son's kindergarten appreciation banquet, so we dressed up for the occasion. When I was younger, I always thought dressing up was troublesome, but as I grew older, I realized that it represents respect for others regardless of the occasion. This is something I often tell my son, that we should be people who respect others and are not selfish, as even something as simple as being late is a clear example of disrespect.

#8
The beauty of low ISO black and white film lies in its ability to reinterpret light and shadow in ways that the human eye cannot directly perceive.

#9
At the appreciation banquet. I am very grateful to my son's two teachers for their care over the past years.

#10
A camera that continues to miss focus.

#11
Traffic and vignetting.

#12
An unusual focusing distance.

#13
At the night market, taking my son to play goldfish scooping.

#14
While using this camera, I had already noticed that the focus distance did not seem to change at all, so I kept taking test shots. These were taken when the house was quite messy.