I posted a couple of days ago about how we had visited the Southwell Workhouse National Trust property and also how it gave a proper workout for my Fuji X-T1 and new Samyang 12mm lens. In this follow up post I’m going to show the rest of the pictures I took and give a few more impressions of using the combination.
As I said in the last article, this type of photo opportunity was exactly the reason I bought the Samyang. Because interiors are difficult to capture unless you have a really wide angle, and they have a tendency to be quite dark, the 12mm f/2 Samyang is a great choice. Although I have a Tamron 10-24mm Zoom for my Pentax K5 which I could use with an adaptor, it isn’t a good choice with the Fuji X-T1 because it isn’t possible to set the aperture on it.
The pictures below show the images I captured with this combination. Not all of them are interior shots, but quite a few show a technique I’ve found I use quite a lot with the Samyang – get low and shoot upwards to give a different perspective to the picture. I think this works particularly well with the first photo in the series when the guide was explaining about how bodies were stored after inmates died – the roof beams give a nice pattern in the shot.
Another thing I discovered about the lens is it’s ability to focus to really close distances. The picture of the window handle was taken only about 2 inches away from the front of the lens and the aperture was set (from memory) on about f/11. If the aperture had been f/22 i suspect most of the background would have been in focus as well.
Southwell Workhouse Pictures
So here are the other pictures I took on our visit. Once again I’m impressed with the quality of the Samyang 12mm, especially considering the great price it’s available for. I had a few issues with focusing which I need to work on, but even the slightly soft images still have the impact that you get with very wide angle lenses.
![Olympus [mju:] II zoom 115 - lens open and camera on](https://i2.wp.com/simonhawketts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/olympus_mju-2.jpg?resize=165%2C190&ssl=1)
Hi Simon. There are some really good and informative images here but it would help many if there was a clue as to where Southwell is – unless of course I am missing something.
Hi
Yes that’s a good point! It’s in Nottingham https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/the-workhouse-southwell
Hi again Simon. Thank you. I personally am luckier than many in that I have travelled the UK quite extensively and was familiar with the general area of Nottingham.
Perhaps it might be worth considering brief mention of the location and a link to your visited sites in the future.
Keep-up the good work and the camera shutters/irises clicking.