{"id":49054,"date":"2025-04-27T21:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T13:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/blog\/49054"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:24:16","slug":"ep249-%e5%81%9c%e6%90%8d%e7%9a%84%e5%8b%9d%e7%ae%97%ef%bd%9colympus-c-af-38mm-f2-8-%e8%88%87-catlabs-x-film-320-pro-%e9%bb%91%e7%99%bd%e5%ba%95%e7%89%87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/blog\/49054","title":{"rendered":"EP249: Knowing When to Fold \u2014 Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8 with CatLabs X Film 320 Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nRoll #249 \u2014 the Olympus C-AF still hasn't stopped impressing me<\/p>\n

Film: CatLabs X Film 320 Pro<\/a> (metered at ISO 100)
\nDeveloped & scanned: Li-lai Photo<\/a>, 2025\/4\/1
\nCamera: Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8<\/a><\/p>\n

-<\/p>\n

Today \u2014 April 27, 2025 \u2014 was our monthly book club, and this month's read was Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away<\/a> by Annie Duke. The writing itself isn't particularly good, but the core idea is worth sitting with: when we've already invested heavily in something, we tend to keep going even as the odds of success shrink \u2014 because we can't bring ourselves to write off what we've already put in. The result is that losses compound far beyond what they needed to be.<\/p>\n

It's a pattern that shows up all the time in business. A company's revenue is clearly declining, but the owners keep propping it up \u2014 borrowing money, trying anything to extend its runway \u2014 until the hole is so deep there's no way out. If they'd recognized the signs earlier and pulled back in time, the damage could have been contained. Instead, they shut down with far more debt than they started with.<\/p>\n

This hit close to home. My income still isn't where it needs to be. Should I pivot to something else, or keep pushing? Looking for some clarity, I made a detour after book club to the Eslite at Zhongshan underground station and found a few business books I wanted. But since I was flat broke, I couldn't buy them there \u2014 ended up ordering secondhand copies on Shopee instead. Felt a little guilty about that, honestly.<\/p>\n

-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#1
\nA rare occasion \u2014 I actually used the flash.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#2
\nNight market with my wife and son \u2014 and again, I used the flash. Something about flash on black and white feels less harsh than it does on color.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#3
\nA water dispenser design so familiar it's become iconic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#4
\nTaking my son for a bike ride along the Rainbow Bikeway in Neihu with my wife.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#5
\nThe night before, we'd been given a small goldfish by the scooping game vendor at the night market. Today we headed to the aquarium district in Taipei to pick up everything we needed to actually keep it alive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#6
\nKids grow up fast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#7
\nGrave sweeping day. Remembering where you came from matters to me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#8
\nGrave sweeping feels meaningful to me as an act of remembrance \u2014 but burning joss paper is genuinely terrible for the environment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#9
\nThere happen to be goats near my place. Rare to get this close.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#10
\nA rare morning run with my wife. This is what we see along the route.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#11
\nI've photographed this small tree with different cameras and lenses over the years. I want to keep a record of how it looks across time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#12
\nRight to left: my wife and me. We argue a lot, probably more than you'd expect \u2014 maybe once every two weeks or so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#13
\nFocusing on a cat walking straight toward you is genuinely difficult. A Sony Alpha could probably handle it though.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#14
\nZhongshan Station, Taipei MRT \u2014 currently my favorite station in the system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#15
\nI've branched out a little this year and started taking on work outside of web design. This is a lightbox ad I designed for a client.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#16
\nAnother lightbox design for the same client \u2014 displayed in their own storefront, which takes a little pressure off. When a client is paying for ad space, the stakes are higher: results matter, and there's no room to be careless. In-store placements give you a bit more breathing room.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#17
\nAfter work, took the MRT to Beimen Station to pick up film from Violet Color.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#18
\nReally like the sense of motion in this one. Near Taipei Main Station.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#19
\nViolet Color \u2014 look at that \"Konica Digital Imaging\" sign. A living piece of history.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#20
\nA closer look at the typography on Violet Color's signage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#21
\nViolet Color is conveniently located and always busy \u2014 almost everyone there for film-related work. There's something genuinely good about being surrounded by people who share the same niche interest. You don't feel like you're alone in it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#22
\nWe've forgotten what we used to do with waiting time before smartphones. Taipei Main Station platform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#23
\nJust boarded the train.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#24
\nOff the train, looking up at the sky. That quality of light \u2014 I think this is what's called the gloaming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#25
\nOur grocery cart at home, for the record.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#26
\nThe neighbor's cat. Always stares straight into the lens \u2014 every single time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#27
\nYou develop a real attachment to a car over the years. I've laughed in this one. I've cried in this one. Selling it would hurt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n#28
\nI've forgotten the context for this one. Sorry \u2014 it's been too long between shooting and writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That's the full roll \u2014 Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8 with CatLabs X Film 320 Pro. Thanks for reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roll #249 \u2014 the Olympus C-AF still hasn't stopped impressing me Film: CatLabs X Film 320 Pro (metered at ISO 100) Developed & scanned: Li-lai Photo, 2025\/4\/1 Camera: Olympus C-AF...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1906,1956],"tags":[1797,2058,2059],"class_list":{"0":"post-49054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-catlabs-x-film-320-pro","8":"category-olympus-c-af","9":"tag-lilai-photo","10":"tag-38mm-fixed-focus-point-and-shoot-camera","11":"tag-iso-320-"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/13500025.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49057,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49054\/revisions\/49057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeals75.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}