Fuji X-T1 Picture with the Samyang 12mm

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my initial test of the Samyang 12mm f/2 lens which I’d bought for my Fuji X-T1 mirrorless, and today I got to try the camera out in a real life situation when we visited the National Trust Workhouse in Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

Although the picture above is only a single shot, I actually took lots of pictures in exactly the sort of situation I bought the lens for, internal shots with low light, which are just the conditions which a very wide angle, fast lens is suitable for.

I found it a superb performer with one slight issue – but the issue is not with the lens but with the photographer. That is, I need to take more care with focusing; I thought I’d got the focus spot on but there are about 10 images in the set where I’ve not nailed the focus which surprised me considering the high dept of field of the lens and the very good manual focus support in the Fuji X-T1.

Anyway – the picture. One of the subjects that you are not really supposed to use a wide angle lenses for is portraits, but that is exactly what I did with this shot and I think it works well. Jan was listening to an audio guide as we walked round the workhouse, and wasn’t really paying any  attention to me so I managed to take quite a discrete candid shot by the window.

When we returned home, I imported the images I took into Lightroom and had a quick scan through to find the best images. Although this one didn’t immediately jump out at me in its original colour form, when I tried it in black and white it looked much more powerful to me. I’d be interested in anyone else’s opinion.