Roll 297
Film: Harman Phoenix II 200 @ ISO 200
Developed & scanned: DEP Lab 2025/10/8
Camera: Kiev 645
Lens: Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8
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I've been making a very deliberate effort lately to slow down my film shooting. I still have 37 rolls left to write up, and if I'm going to seriously start working on the book, clearing that backlog first feels necessary — I can't have a mountain of unwritten film posts distracting me. Maybe that's part of what's driving the Sigma BF plan: shift my attention toward digital for a while and focus on working through the existing film.
I was born in 1986, the Year of the Tiger, ROC year 75 — which is why the "75" is in this site's URL, zeals75.com. With 2026 approaching, I'm about to turn 40. If I live to 80, then 40 is the official midpoint — the start of the downward slope of middle age. Honestly, it's a little hard to accept. Whenever I think about it, I find myself looking back at my younger self, checking for regrets.
If there's one regret, it's this: I didn't know my father would leave so soon. If I had known, I would have taken far more photos of him, and made time for more meals with him — just the two of us.
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#1
My first roll of 120 Harman Phoenix II. To test its latitude, I decided to shoot at ISO 200. My light meter is only a phone app, but I'm fairly sure Phoenix II is still a low-latitude film — neither overexposure nor underexposure is forgiven. The tree I pass on my runs.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/500, f8)
#2
My son's kindergarten classmate invited him swimming. I actually think swimming pools make wonderful subjects — the trouble is that many of them have "no photography" signs.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/500, f4, +0.8 EV)
#3
Metering off the LED. This is the on-site work scene I go through every week.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/60, f2.8, -0.8 EV)
#4
I've lost count of how many times I've said it, but the reason I love the Kiev 645 is that it shoots in portrait orientation by default — exactly like the Olympus Pen F series.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/60, f2.8, -0.8 EV)
#5
I'd driven down to Nantou to see a friend, and on the way back I took a short nap at the Tai'an rest stop. I'd just woken up — must have slept twenty-some minutes. A human fast-charge: my mind and thoughts as sharp as the center of this frame.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/1000, f2.8, +0.8 EV)
#6
When I was young, I once told my family I thought Mazda made handsome cars and wanted to buy one someday. My family — my mother, specifically — told me Mazda makes trucks, so what's handsome about that? I didn't understand at the time, but over a decade later I finally saw a Mazda truck with my own eyes. So that's the stereotype the older generation held about Mazda.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/1000, f2.8, +0.8 EV)
#7
If there's no motion blur at 1/250s, it means the vehicle really was moving slowly.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/250, f2.8, +3.2 EV)
#8
I wanted to shoot this scene, but someone happened to walk in.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/125, f16)
#9
I waited for them to leave, then took a second frame.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/125, f16)
#10
I'm not sure why this one came out so badly overexposed. Maybe my metering was off?
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/125, f4, +2.2 EV)
#11
Scenery in medium format always carries an inexplicable sense of quiet.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/125, f16)
#12
I waited a while for a car to pass.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/500, f8)
#13
The Kiev 645 is actually quite fully featured — a top shutter speed of 1/1000s, both eye-level and waist-level finders, and even mirror lock-up (MLU). My biggest fear is triggering the MLU by accident, and that's exactly what happened here: the whole viewfinder went black and I couldn't see a thing. So I shot blind, pointed at a patch of grass, and pressed the shutter. Among ten thousand blades of grass, at least one is bound to be in focus — that way I wouldn't end up with a completely out-of-focus failure.
Kiev Arsat C 80mm f2.8 (1/1000, f2.8)
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That's this roll — Kiev 645 with Harman Phoenix II 200. Thanks for reading.
