This is photographer Daran's second series from traveling in Japan, with the Leica SL2s as the main travel and street companion. The people and things encountered along the way, and the casual light and shadow, all became interesting creative elements in Daran's eyes — so let's wander Japan with Daran!
By Daran Wu
For this Japan trip I set myself two shooting assignments: a medium format X1D II + XCD 45mm F3.5 kit, shot entirely in XPan panoramic mode (Japan Travels in XPan: Hasselblad X1D II); and a Leica SL2s + SL 50mm F2 APO plus Panasonic Lumix 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 combo for travel documentation.
.
Every time I look through the Leica SL2s viewfinder, that detailed, rich EVF makes me smile defenselessly. My kids ask why Papa always smiles when taking photos — kids, you're still young; you don't understand this soulful bond of photography, a chain of emotion from eyes to fingers to heart. Even just passing another photographer on the street, you can feel that small joy of their backward glance~
Leica files run a touch more saturated at baseline, and with the APO lens's help, sharpness and shadow detail clearly stay at a top-tier level (the Lumix 20-60 is decent, above average — but the gap to the APO is real), so the overall rendering is a bit more intense. This time I also mixed a new tone profile for the SL2s — exactly the Leica of my mind's eye.
Further reading:
Japan Travels in XPan: Hasselblad X1D II
Leica SL2 + APO SL 50mm F2: First Impressions
Leica's Perfectionism | APO-Summicron-SL 50 f/2 ASPH
Toronto Street Photography | Leica SL2s
Toronto Street Photography | ZEISS C Biogon T* 21mm f/4.5 ZM
.
Share this story
