Tokyo-X-Vario: Shooting Bikes in Shibuya

X-VARIO @ 28mm zone focus. 1/500th sec F/7.1 @ ISO 1600.

I know the X-VARIO was never designed to be an action camera...and that's ok. But it doesn't mean we can't use it to capture action. That's exactly what I did when I decided to shoot bike riders in action in the trendy fashion district of Shibuya. This area is known for it's crazy pedestrian crossing (remember that scene in Lost in Translation when Scarlett Johansson crosses the busy intersection with the big screen of the dinasaur?) and lots of fashion shops, like the famous 109 and 0I0I (Marui Marui) buildings. I noticed something else: lots of super-cool cyclists!! 

While my wife went into the shops, I hung out on the streets to take pictures of guys (and gals) whipping past on their fixies, single-speeds, mamacharis, and geared bikes of all sizes, colours, shapes and styles. I came back a few more times just to take pictures, and you'll notice lots of pics from the exact same location of cyclists on my Instagram account. The point is I was shooting with two cameras that you would never associate with shooting action: Ricoh GR-D IV and Leica X-VARIO. Neither have blazing fast autofocus, nor do they have a true telephoto focal length, two things people think you need to shoot action. You don't. I've already posted pics of bike action with the Ricoh GR, so here's some with the X-VARIO...here we go!!

X-VARIO @ 28mm zone focused.  1/400th sec F/7.1 @ ISO 1600. Image cropped.

X-VARIO @ 28mm zone focused. 1/500th sec F/7.1 @ ISO 1600. Image cropped.