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.
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.