Roll #250
Film: Ilford Ortho Plus 80 (metered at ISO 50)
Developed & scanned: Li-lai Photo, 2025/4/1
Camera: Olympus OM-2
Lenses:
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8
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Ever since stepping away from Taiwan's film photography communities, I've still been quietly following the conversation — mostly lurking on PTT's DSLR board. Yes, DSLR — but the board rules allow film discussion, and most of the people talking about film there come from a digital background. The crossover perspectives are genuinely interesting. That said, it's also a place where film-related posts regularly get piled on.
I'd been hoping the PTT DSLR board would be a quiet corner where I could read film discussion in Traditional Chinese without the drama. Then recently I watched someone enthusiastically sharing film content get torn apart — not just pushed back on, but relentlessly. I decided to stay quiet and removed the board from my favorites.
Moving on — a quick update on GrainHunter. The build is going reasonably well. The architecture has stabilized and shouldn't need major restructuring. As of today (May 9, 2025), the database contains real-world film samples from 59 film stocks, 50 film cameras, and 74 lenses. Only 193 photos so far, but each one can be cross-referenced across multiple dimensions — same film, different lens; same focal length, different format; same subject, different camera; and so on.
A few days ago at a WordPress meetup, I presented the GrainHunter concept for the second time. The goal is to have it fully built by the end of 2025. My personal benchmark for "done" is at least three sample photos per dimension — once that's in place, I'll consider it ready to promote publicly.
The biggest problem right now is SEO. Because GrainHunter was built on a modified WooCommerce framework, Google reads it as a pile of incomplete product listings rather than a photography reference database. I've started adding three tags to every image and using those tags in the file naming, trying to give search engines more to work with — but the results haven't been great. That's okay. I'll keep building, because the long-term plan is likely to put the database behind a paid subscription anyway, and leave the SEO work to the blog section embedded within the site.
This roll — Ilford Ortho Plus 80 — had been sitting in the fridge for a long time. ISO 80 isn't convenient for my usual shooting style, so I kept putting it off. Eventually I got tired of looking at the backlog in the freezer and decided to just work through it. So here we are: car maintenance, corners of the apartment, work, a broken-down scooter, bus rides, walks, a school parent-teacher meeting. The usual.
Coming up on three years of this blog — my first post went up on June 17, 2022, and today is May 9, 2025. Thank you for reading. I've also recently reopened my Instagram (@refine.tw) and Threads (@refine.tw) accounts — in my capacity as a web designer, if you're curious about what that side of my work looks like.
(Also: personal Facebook @zeals75 and the Refine Web Design Studio page — yoroshiku.)
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#1
Time for the Nissan Kicks' regular service. I brought the laptop — waiting time is work time. Not the kind to sit around scrolling my phone.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f2)
#2
We test-sat a few other cars while we waited, and I came away more appreciative of the Kicks' rear seat. The seat height is noticeably higher than most, which means your thighs are actually supported rather than hanging in the air. That detail makes a real difference on longer drives.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f2)
#3
We got a fish. Took my son to a night market to try his hand at the goldfish scooping game — he couldn't catch one, so the owner just gave us one. The next day we went to the aquarium district in Taipei and spent close to a thousand NTD on equipment. This is the result. During the first few days, we had an earthquake, and my first instinct was to watch the water surface in the tank to gauge how strong it was.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/8, f2)
#4
The goldfish — a black peony variety.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#5
This MacBook Air 11-inch has been retired from daily use and now lives a second life as my tax-filing computer — it can still run Windows. Using it here to test the Voigtlander at different apertures. This is wide open at f2.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/4, f2)
#6
f2.8 — essentially the same image quality as f2; you'd need to pixel-peep to spot any difference. This lens was released in 2002, three years after Cosina acquired the Voigtlander brand. It's something the Olympus OM system couldn't otherwise offer — a lens built with decades of later optical technology. That makes it genuinely irreplaceable in the OM universe.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/2, f2.8)
#7
f4 — sharpness holds, depth of field opens up.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1s, f4)
#8
Today's work soundtrack: Nujabes (1974–2010), Modal Soul. I've been listening to this album since university — back when I'd put it on while writing papers late at night.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/4, f2)
#9
The service this time included some actual repairs — came out to 20,000 NTD. Documenting the dashboard after spending that kind of money, even though it looks exactly the same as before. Worth noting: this was hand-held at 1/15s. How did I pull that off? Genuinely can't remember.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/15, f2)
#10
They washed the car as part of the service. Clean.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#11
Having used the Olympus OM Zuiko 40mm f2, I can say with confidence: the Zuiko cannot match the Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2's wide-open sharpness. This is at minimum focus distance.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#12
A Friday — just wrapped up a client meeting at Clearstyle Interior Design and somehow ended up working inside a Decathlon. Coffee, a table, a bathroom. Everything I need.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#13
Most massages are just painful for me. If a place advertised "we press gently," I might actually walk in.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/500, f2.8)
#14
Almost no one takes the pedestrian overpass — stairs are unpopular. I went up for the shot and crossed while I was at it.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f4)
#15
A cautionary tale: my first-gen Gogoro hadn't been serviced in ages because I didn't want to pay for it. The drive belt snapped mid-ride. Stranded.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/125, f2.8)
#16
Gogoro sent in for repairs. Took the bus home. Reiterating: the Voigtlander 40mm f2 wide open is seriously sharp. If I could only keep one lens for my OM, this would be it.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f2)
#17
Haven't looked closely at a bus AC vent in a long time.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#18
I was in an accident at this intersection when I was a kid. It shaped who I am today.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f4)
#19
Parent-teacher day at my son's school. This is a pinball machine he built himself. As his dad, I think he has a real knack for design.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#20
A drawing he made, pinned up in the classroom.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#21
Since he's in his final year of kindergarten, this was the last parent-teacher day. A little bittersweet, honestly.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#22
A BBQ with former colleagues from Isobar Taiwan, up in the hills in Xindian. I took the bus — I like how it slows the day down.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#23
Got a ride down the hill with a former colleague afterward. Other people's cars are always so clean.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f2)
#24
The Louisa Coffee near my place is closing — officially because the lease is up, but I suspect the real reason is simpler: the owner just wanted out.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#25
My son can handle Within Temptation's Bleed Out. Here he is doing math homework while listening to it.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#26
A wall in the apartment developed mold. We decided to handle it ourselves to save money.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#27
You can get a rough read on a country's collective anxiety from its bestseller list.
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 (1/30, f2.8)
#28
Just picked up a Canon EOS 5D Classic.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#29
Getting a film camera or lens repaired is a lot like seeing a doctor — different technicians, different diagnoses.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/30, f2)
#30
Taiwan is genuinely well-served for film photography — camera repair, developing, scanning, all of it. Plenty of options, reasonable prices. Lucky to be here.
Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2 SL Aspherical (1/60, f2.8)
That's the full roll — Olympus OM-2 with Ilford Ortho Plus 80. Thanks for reading.
