ONE LENS CHALLENGE: Innerwick Castle with the Fujinon 90mm lens

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Last weekend I decided to set myself another one lens challenge during the trip out to Innerwick Castle.  The lens I decided to use was the Fujinon XF90mmR LM WR, which I have had on test from Fujifilm for the past two weeks.  

 Now using a 90mm telephoto was going to prove to be a challenge as the area around the castle ruins is quite tight.  On the north side is the woods and the path that leads to the ruins. On the south side is open ground but is quite overgrown and the access is not easy.  while to the east is Thornton Glen, with a 20 metre drop to the Burn below.

 Anyway I am always up for a challenge and if it isn't easy then so much the better! So I started to look for images that would suit the 135mm equivalent focal length of this brand new Fujinon lens.


The obvious starting point was to take some shots of the castle ruins through the trees from the pathway that leads up to the castle.  I took a few images before moving to some close up details as I moved around the base of the curtain wall.



The stonework of red sandstone in quite worn and the centuries of erosion has produced a beautiful sculpted effect, with weathered stripes of natural layers.







Around the base on the south side of the castle there is a large area of wild flowers and this gave me the opportunity to try the 90mm f2's close focusing ability.  The closest focus point was 0.6m and the magnification was 0.3x in full frame terms.  

 This isn't bad and the magnification could've been increased by the use of extension rings as I used on the 56mm test a few weeks back (CLICK HERE).






The castle walls are home to a lot of shrubs and plants growing in the masonry.  This has caused some issues with the roots pushing into the stonework and causing damage.  From a purely photographic point of view the green and yellows of the plants contrast nicely with the red stonework and blue sky.







The XF90mm f2 is a great lens for focusing on detail in a scene as these images demonstrate.  The 135mm equivalent focal length proved to a bit of a challenge in the tight confines in and around Innerwick Castle but once again I found ways around the problems to produce a set of images that really sets off the capabilities of this superb Fujinon prime lens.



CLICK HERE for more information on the Fujinon XF90mm f2R LM WR

images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 and a Fujinon XF90mm f2R LM WR
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