EP242: Passion First — Olympus O-Product 35mm f3.5 with Ilford Delta 400 Professional

Roll #242 — Sun Moon Lake in black and white

Film: Ilford Delta 400 Professional
Developed & scanned: Li-lai Photo, 2025/1/16
Camera: Olympus O-Product 35mm f3.5

Sponsored by Mr. Chen from Nantou.

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For a long stretch of time — years, actually — this blog went by a different name: Passion First. I came up with it when I was just starting out in the working world. Fresh out of school, landed the job I'd been dreaming of, full of ambition and ready to prove myself. What I didn't realize was how many problems I'd brought along: an inflated sense of my own abilities, rigid thinking, a tendency to get stuck in my own head. I ran into setback after setback at work. So I started writing — a blog to document where I was, because I found that the act of writing helped me work things out, or at least let things go. It gave me enough to come back the next morning.

From that point on, most of what I wrote became a kind of diary. I've always liked that — writing as a way to settle the mind. That's what these film posts do for me too. Before I started shooting film, my daily life felt scattered and fragmented. Things happened, but nothing felt quite worth writing about.

Once I started carrying a camera, that changed. I don't shoot with any particular agenda — I just bring the camera along and photograph whatever seems worth capturing in the moment. A lot of frames are from waiting at red lights on the scooter, just marking where I was headed. Others are my son, because kids only become more independent over time, and the window for this kind of documentation is closing.

A few rolls in, I realized this way of observing my own life worked for me. Could you get the same effect with a digital camera or phone? Not for me — I need the forced stopping point. Without the physical frame limit of film, I wouldn't know when to pause, look back, and write.

That's how "The Film Effect On Me" came to be: a record of what's happening in my life, filtered through these rolls of film. It's diary, opinion, and personal values all in one. The good and the less good. I've thought about going back and editing out some of the more contentious things I've written over the years — plenty of it is unconventional — but reviewing 200-plus posts, each with multiple captioned photos, adds up to something like five thousand captions. That's enough to keep me frozen in place.

Do I actually need to revise my own diary? I'll keep writing and keep thinking about it.

The camera on this roll, the Olympus O-Product 35mm f3.5, was lent to me by one of the most valued friends I have — probably the person who understands my film photography the best. I've told my wife: if anything ever happens to me and she doesn't know what the gear in the dry cabinet is worth, ask him.

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#1
When I took this photo, my son and I were happily practicing BMX together. By the time I sat down to write the caption, I'd already injured my wrist and wouldn't be riding again for a while. Life moves fast.

 

#2
When something urgent comes up for a client while I'm out, I find a place to sit, open the laptop, and get to work.

 

#3
The neighbor's cat. Every time I crouch down, it walks over. I still can't remember its name — that's on me.

 

#4
The Olympus O-Product is one of those cameras that turns heads the moment it comes out of the bag — even from people who know nothing about film. The design is singular, unlike anything before or after it. It perfectly captures Olympus's instinct for going against the grain, and I think that's a big part of why I love this brand as much as I do.

 

#5
Driving down to Nantou to ring in the New Year — stopped at a rest stop along the way to eat.

 

#6
On the road to Nantou.

 

#7
The Olympus O-Product's shutter range is 1/45 to 1/400, with apertures from f3.5 to f9. At the minimum exposure combination of f9 and 1/400, there's some risk of overexposure. For outdoor daylight use, I'd recommend a film with strong highlight latitude. First choice: Ilford HP5 Plus 400. If you've worn that one out, Kodak T-Max 400 is a solid second. Both handle overexposure well, though personally I find HP5 a touch more forgiving in the shadows too.

 

#8
Just arrived in Nantou — first stop, Sun Moon Lake.

 

#9
On the boat.

 

#10
A boat in the distance.

 

#11
Honestly, I prefer the vertical framing from the previous shot. This landscape version is here because I needed a cover image for the post.

 

#12
I loaded Ilford Delta 400 Professional in the O-Product — a film that handles underexposure well but struggles with overexposure. Worth keeping in mind given the camera's limited aperture range.

 

#13
My son and me — my wife took this one. This is exactly where a point-and-shoot earns its keep: autofocus, no fuss.

 

#14
After the boat, we went kayaking. This was right after finishing — fun, actually.

 

#15
The paddle design drips water down your arms with every stroke, so by the end my son and I were both soaked — pants, socks, shoes, everything. We nearly got cold enough to be a real problem. If the staff had warned us beforehand, the whole experience would have been better. But they probably know that if people knew, no one would go.

 

#16
Back on the boat, leaving Sun Moon Lake, heading to our guesthouse in Puli.

 

#17
The New Year guesthouse was excellent — I'll keep the name to myself so it stays bookable. The architecture and interior design were genuinely impressive. Our room.

 

#18
The corridor inside the guesthouse. Betel nut palms visible in the distance — a signature of Nantou's landscape.

 

#19
New Year's morning — the owner cooking breakfast. Genuinely skilled.

 

#20
My wife.

 

#21
We visited Shuili Snake Kiln, where we also made some pottery — a fun process.

 

#22
A small farm nearby.

 

#23
The kids from all the families, together.

 

#24
Puli, surrounded by mountains on all sides.

 

#25
A ramen place in Puli with a lightbox illustration I couldn't stop looking at.

 

#26
Had to get a close-up.

 

#27
I keep wondering: if I got a manual motorcycle, would I need a child seat on the back?

 

#28
Waiting for my wife to finish work.

 

#29
A clear weekend morning — taking my son to Neihu to ride BMX.

 

#30
Wear your protective gear. Makes falling much less of a problem.

 

#31
My son on the right, a classmate on the left. A rare photo of the two of them together. I wonder if they'll stay in touch after graduation.

 

#32
Looking out from a parking garage in Neihu.

 

#33
An empty parking lot — took the chance to photograph the car. I call it "my car" because I've grown attached to it. Hard to imagine just selling it. We've been through a lot together. A few times a year I drive alone, somewhere between Taipei and Changhua, and things come to mind that don't come up otherwise. Once, driving alone, I suddenly thought of my father — who's been gone for years — and I just started crying, couldn't stop.

 

#34
The moon at dusk.

 

#35
Home after work — found my son playing by himself. Looking at what he'd built, I thought: he's grown up again.

 

#36
The Olympus O-Product 35mm f3.5 has a nickname: "Lucky Cat" — named for its external flash attachment, which looks like the raised paw of a maneki-neko. Unfortunately I still haven't figured out how to use fill flash properly, so it hasn't seen much use. This is the one frame on the roll where I actually fired it.

Thanks again to Mr. Chen from Nantou for sponsoring this episode. That's the full roll — Olympus O-Product 35mm f3.5 with Ilford Delta 400 Professional. Thanks for reading.