| |  | Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $1,500.00
Buy New: $919.95
You Save: $580.05 (39%)
New (8)
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Maximum Focal Length: 135
Minimum Focal Length: 135
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.5 x 5.4
MPN: 2320A004
Model: 2520A004
UPC: 082966213328
EAN: 0082966213328
ASIN: B000053HC5
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
This blasted lens makes my other lenses look terrible! January 22, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
When I first acquired Canon Lens Collecting Syndrome about three years ago, I thought to get a few primes, as Common Wisdom runs that primes are uniformly better than zooms. I needed a portrait lens, looked at the 135 f/2 prime and thought "hey, that'll probably work ... f/2 will make for nice bokeh and all the books say to use an 85 mm for portraits but I've got a 1.6 crop, so 135's probably the way to go." I also eventually got a 400 mm prime for wildlife.
Looking at my three years' worth of wildlife pictures, most of the real eye-poppers... were with the 135. The 400's sharp (especially when on a tripod), but the 135 simply blows away every other lens I own. Yup, I do portraits with it sometimes, but in general it is my "go-to" lens when something neat's wandering through the backyard.
The other day the "something" was a gray fox. It was on the ground, I was on a top level deck with no time to get downstairs, and the sun was setting. I grabbed the camera (which had the 135 on it already), got a few shots despite the dim light... and they're beautiful. Couldn't have done it without f/2.
Nine hundred bucks is a lot of money for a lens. But if knew then what I know now, I might only own this lens, the f/5.6 400, the f/1.4 50mm, the 17-40, and perhaps the f/4 70-200 IS. This 135 will make you look like a much better photographer than you are. (At least it does for me!)
Sharp! Sharp! Sharp! Did I mention sharp?!?! December 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wow! This lens is sharp! It has amazing boken and contrast as well. I have some very nice lenses but this blows them away by far. You can't beat primes. I purchased this mostly as a portrait lens, but I think I'll be finding many more uses for it. It's very well made, as are all L lenses. It came with the hood and bag which is always a plus.
Best lens for indoor sports December 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I needed a lens to use for indoor canine sports where a relatively long focal length was needed, and flash out of the question. This lens does the job and does it superbly! You get nice reach (add a 1.4x tele-extender if you need even more) and those wide apertures that are essential for indoors in low light. I also have a 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens and that just wasn't fast enough to handle these fast indoor sports. This gives me the speed I need and delivers great sharpness and lovely bokeh as well. The size is comfortable to hold and the autofocus fast and accurate. If you need to shoot sports, concerts, dance or music recitals, theater, etc. anything indoors where flash is forbidden, this is the lens you will need!
The finest lens I own!! November 16, 2007
56 out of 57 found this review helpful
Intro:
Never Ever: Rent, borrow or attach this lens to your camera! If you do, you will have to own it. It's that good!
The Canon 135mm F/2 L lens is: cheaper, lighter, faster to focus, easier to mount, and easier on batteries then the Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II lens.
The ultimate portrait lens on a full frame camera still very good on a 1.6 cropped sensor camera (40D/50D, Rebels) if you have room to backup. You get almost exactly double the Bokeh on full sensor or 35mm film camera vs 1.6 cropped sensor camera.
The Canon 135mm F/2 L lens is the finest lens I have ever owned!! Fantastic looking shots like my Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II but much easier to use and carry. As a plus the sharpness and distance is perfect for taking male portraits where you don't want a soft image you want it as sharp as possible which is what you get with this lens even at F/2.
I've shown family this lens, talked about this lens and all I ever hear is what camera do you have? How did you learn to take such great photos? I've taken photos for years and years shooting many weddings and all I can say is the single most important thing I've done to improve my portrait photography is to purchase this lens and shoot at F2.0 to 2.5. Listed below in-depth are my thoughts and feelings about this magnificent lens.
Pros:
Sharp, really sharp
Nice smooth manual focus ring
Perfect lens for indoor sports
Perfect male client portrait lens
Very light compared to 70-200 F2.8
Super fast right on the money auto focus
Bokeh, Bokeh, Bokeh oh how I love thee!!
Bokeh, Bokeh, I just had to say it again!!!!!
Perfect lens for outdoor portrait photography
Perfect lens for candid photos at Renaissance Festivals
Stealth: Nice small black and un-noticed even with the hood
This lens has Auto Lens Vignetting correction using peripheral Illumination control see Auto Vignetting comments below:
Built in back drop anywhere you go courtesy of super Bokeh F/2.0 to 2.5
Cons:
No stabilization
No room for focus error at F/2
Can be a little long indoors in confined spaces
Photo contrast a little lighter than my 70-200 F2.8 L Lens
Sensitive to low battery on Rebel XTi (does not focus well with low bat)
Keeper tips:
Use a monopod or tripod
Set the aperture to F/2.2
Set the ISO to keep the Shutter speed 1/250s or above if in dark area 100 ISO on sunny days
Choose a dark background several feet from your model (I like 15 or more feet if possible)
Have your model pose in the shade if outside
Have your model's eyes parallel to your camera
Have your model remain as still as possible
Auto focus lock on the tip of their nose (Works on my 40D, you want the eyes in focus, you may have to focus lock on their eyes depending on your camera do whatever works for you)
Focus lock then recompose as needed and take several photos, then take some more.
Verify focus by zooming in and reviewing. Make sure eyes are in focus nothing else matters
If you want more Bokeh experiment with setting the aperture to F2.0 just be aware you might not have as many keepers.
Background:
I purchased this 135mm F/2L lens to supplement my favorite portrait lens so far the excellent Canon 70-200 2.8 L. I love to do distant portraits at: weddings, renaissance festivals, air shows, public events, etc. and wanted the absolute best lens I could afford for this. Plus I wanted that 2/3 F stop advantage the 135 gives for dark church interiors where weddings always seem to take place and flash units are not welcome.
Test description:
First thing I did was test shoot against my 70-200 mounted on a tripod zoomed to 135mm with mirror lockup and remote cable release manual mode 1/125 s at F2.8 ISO 100 early in the morning. I pointed the camera at an identical spot in the shade of a neighbors trees and in less then 60 seconds (as fast as I could change lens) fired one round though each lens and went back into the house to compare.
Test Conclusions:
This and several dozen test shots later in the day back to back at different settings led me to the following conclusions. The 135mm has by far better Bokeh, buttery smooth the kind I used to dream about. The 70-200 by comparison is acceptable but at F2.8 leaves little rings around each item and noticeable backgrounds where at the same F stop the 135mm leaves a smooth non-distracting background. I tested at different F stops and the 135mm is always pleasing. The 135mm is way sharper at the same F stops then the 70-200, no shock there. But I was also shocked to find out my Canon 100-400 L Zoom was just as sharp if not a little sharper then my Canon 135mm but the 100-400 has far more variable and at times much worse Bokeh. And I believe the 135mm to be sharper at F2 then the 70-200 at any F stop especially in the corners. But, what I was surprised to find out is the 70-200 F2.8 zoom had slightly better and more pleasing contrast and color. I messed around with the pictures style settings and found it was about -1 saturation compared to the 70-200. So by making a custom picture style on my Canon Rebel XTi for the 135mm lens and saving the saturation as +1 the photos look about the same from both when it comes to saturation which leaves me with less work to do when editing the photos after the shoot if I am shooting JPEG only. If RAW I can adjust to my taste as needed anyway. You can always up the color sat you can't always get it sharper.
Thoughts:
Some people will no doubt criticize my including no stabilization in the Con area above and say you knew that when you bought the lens. I will probably get used to the fact it has no zoom but I swear I must have reached up to the lens at least a dozen times in the first hour of playing with it and tried to turn the focus ring to zoom. A zoom can sure spoil you. But, the 135mm is worth all the trouble of a higher saturation setting and no zoom to get that beautiful creamy buttery smooth just right Bokeh.
Really Cool 3D POP Effect:
Another reason I purchased this lens is I saw several photos taken at F2 where there was this weird really cool looking strange 3D pop effect! I found out you can make that effect on command again and again and again. I am addicted to it. Just photograph a person standing out there far enough away where you get their entire body in the photo with the lens at F2. And Bingo 3D pop effect! I tried it on the 70-200 and although at F2.8 it will do a little it seems as though there is a lot of difference between F2.8 and F2 as even on the 135mm the effect is almost gone at F2.8 compared to F2.
Stealth:
I carried the lens around work today and shot some candid photos. The Canon 135mm F2 is: nice, small, black and un-noticed even with the hood. One friend was even a little surprised to find out it wasn't my 17-40. If you want to take portraits without being noticed this lens is far better then the 70-200 F2.8 zoom even though it has no zoom. Carry the 70-200 F2.8 around and people think you are part of the press corps and are looking for the news truck. The 135mms small size (just slightly longer then a 17-40 F4 L) and black color make it look more like a wide angle lens. Point the 70-200 at people and they sometimes take offense and it's very obvious they know that they are being photographed, point the 135mm at people and they don't seem to mind.
Conclusion:
Like has been said before, if you want the best prime portrait lens currently made by Canon then click purchase and enjoy the Bokeh. If however you find yourself locked into a position when shooting and have to zoom in and out and really want to impress people then you might want to get one of the Canon 70 -200 zooms instead. I'm going with both.
I'll post updates in coming weeks as I use this lens.
Update 1-3-2008
The Canon 135mm continues to impress.
I took this lens with me Christmas and shot portraits with it. I took many photos also with the Canon 50mm F/1.8II, Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L and the Canon 17-40 F/4 L and the Canon 24mm F/2.8. All my relatives always instantly picked the shots taken with the 135mm F/2 as their favorite photo even when previewing through the little monitor on the back of my Canon Rebel XTi.
Yesterday I shot a special event at our church and the lighting was really dim, a lot of shots I took were at F2 and F2.2 which I took from the front row towards the stage. The 50mm just didn't have the reach and my 70-200 F2.8 L didn't have the speed. 135mm F/2 to the rescue!!
My friends from church and the church pastor all normally not really vocal about photos went on and on about them.
Filter Update 1-3-2008
After much searching I found the perfect filter. The Hoya Multi Coat HMC Pro1 Protection filter is not supposed to filter the shot just protect the front lens element. I was very worried that it would affect the shot after having tried some other premium filters like the B+W UV which caused the photos to be softer and duller. However, after some tests I found that in some weird way the Hoya Multi Coat HMC Pro1 actually makes the photos seem to have just a little more contrast and be a little sharper then without. I thought I had gotten the test shots backwards and had to retest with a little sign in the photo saying with and without filter in place just to make sure. Really amazing!!! I'm sold!
Update 1-8-2008
Found that the Canon 135mm F2 shooting at F2 on my Rebel XTi reguires me to focus right on the tip of the nose when shooting a portrait. When I focus on the eyes everything from the eyelash back to the back of their ears is in focus but the nose is not.
Update 1-16-2008
I recently went with my sister to a local park to do portrait shots and take photos of some tame ducks in the lake. After shooting several hours with my Canon 135mm I switched to the Canon 70-200 F2.8 to get closer shots of the ducks. The weight and size of the 70-200 were immediately felt. The Canon Rebel XTi I was using now felt unbalanced and my arms got tired fast. I thought I was just getting tired so I switched back to the Canon 135mm. Immediate weight relief and people no longer staring at me as someone who must be a pro. Granted I could no longer zoom but what a difference. This lens weight, balance and length wise essentially feels like I have the Canon 17-40 F4 L mounted.
Update 1-22-2008
On my birthday I was looking through some portraits from Christmas where I took some candid portraits of the family playing football with my Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L lens and then switched back to the Canon 135mm F/2. You can spot the difference even looking at the thumbnails. The 70-200 is pretty sharp in the center close to wide open but the 135mm just has a so much more pleasing creamy buttery smooth Bokeh that the 70-200 just can not reproduce and the 135mm is razor sharp even wide open edge to edge. Maybe I am a pixel nut but I also noticed these distracting little rings around points of light in the Bokeh areas with the 70-200 lens even at F2.8. The 135mm is just creamy smooth all the way from wide open then stepped down until you lose your Bokeh taking the same photos at all apertures.
Update 2-09-2008
I took some pre-wedding test photos of a couple at small local church. This lens takes a lot of working room with a cropped sensor camera (Rebel XTi) and is almost unusable inside the small church. I did find some really nice places in the shade outside though that worked great. I ended up using my Canon 17-40 F4 L and Canon 50mm F1.8 much more on this shoot and wishing for a 17-55 or 24-70 F2.8 Zoom. It just reinforces the specialty use of this lens and even though the outside was cluttered I got some great shots. I think I could take a model and get cover page photos in a junk yard. It's that good at blurring the background. So much so that far more important then having a pleasing background location is having the model in shade with a dark looking background cluttered or not is the most important thing. You can shoot in the sun it's just that it is so harsh.
Update 2-13-2008
My adopted daughter came by to say goodbye last night before moving out of town and I took some portraits of her and my other daughter in the backyard. She usually does not like to have her photo taken and never likes the results. And she had not been over to the house since I got this lens. Surprise! The Canon 135mm strikes again. I took some waist up portraits and head shots and she was stunned to say the least. She wanted a DVD of the best shots to take with her.
Another friend wanted photos of her daughter for a photo book to put out before her wedding and for her senior photos. Again I stepped out in the back yard with the 135mm F/2 L lens and shot a few candid's and gave them the disk. Later that week when I asked her mom how they liked the photos she said of all the photos that they had taken ever included by professionals the daughter would not let them use any other photos except the ones I took with the 135mm. She loved them that much.
Taking photos these last few days had reinforced just how great the photos can be but also how unforgiving this lens is at F2 to F2.5 especially close up. You had better make sure you nail the focus as the Depth of Field (DOF) is extremely shallow.
I have found with my Canon Rebel XTi the best way is to shoot by using focus hold using center focus and focus lock on the nose then recompose. This usually gives me the best hit ratio of having a great photo with the nose and eyes in razor sharp focus and the blur beginning just behind the eyes and by the time it's back to their ears it is already blurring out at F2 to F2.5. I also found a sweet spot of F2.2 and F2.5, these F stops usually give you enough depth of field to get the nose, eyes and face in sharp focus but still create that dreamy Bokeh effect you want. At F2.8 although more of the head is in focus you start to lose that dreamy Bokeh look.
If you shoot using full auto focus and the lens locks on to and arm, hand, or their chest and those parts are even a little out in front of the nose the face may be completely out of focus. I have found as long as you have the eyes in focus they accept the photos and love them. You may want to try different focus points with your camera combination until you are nailing the focus you want. Take lots of photos at different F stops just to make sure as you will have a higher reject rate then with a normal lens at first until you really get your technique worked out.
Auto Vignetting peripheral illumination control:
I haven't noticed much vignetting with this lens even wide open, but Canon has this super sweet Auto Lens Vignetting correction that works with this lens both in camera with JPEG's and in RAW using peripheral Illumination control in Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) when using newer Canon digital EOS cameras (Canon Rebel XSi, 40D, 5D Mark II etc.) . No more vignetting when shooting wide open!!! When shooting Raw open the file(s) in DPP and click on NR/Lens Lens Aberration Correction / Tune and click on Peripheral illumination. The cameras listed above have already picked up the amount of vignetting based on focusing distance and F stop from the lens and the camera has saved the information with the Raw file. You can then adjust the amount under Peripheral Illumination if you don't like the amount automatically suggested. If you shot JPEG then you get the auto amount. SWEET!!!
Update 2-16-2008 Arizona Renaissance Festival
MAN!! This is the perfect lens at a Renaissance festival especially if the weather is marginal. It was a gloomy drizzling 49F when the gates opened on the 16th of Feb at the AZ Renaissance Festival. And with any of my other lens I would have had to shove my ISO to 400 to 800 ISO at least to get good shots. Here I am shooting Twig the fairy at 100 to 200 ISO and shutter speeds of 1/500th to 1/640th with a dense dark cloud cover blocking sunlight. As usual everyone is clustered around Twig and the background is unusually cluttered. But with this lens at F/2 and F/2.2 the background is turned into a very cool color montage blur that make people gasp when they see the photos!
THE DETAILS this lens renders are incredible. I have been shooting Twig the fairy for several years now and I never knew she wore contacts!
If you shoot outdoor candid portraits then this lens is for you!!
Update 3-1-2008 Arizona Renaissance Festival (Take Two)
Here's a brief summary of my thoughts when using both the Canon 70-200 F/2.8 USM L and Canon 135mm F/2 USM L at AZ Renaissance Festival.
The first thing I noticed was the zoom can be much more versatile especially at the bird show where it's ability to zoom in and out was nice, but it's minimum focus distance is quite a bit farther. I noticed several times taking face shot close ups that I ran into the stop and it could not focus, so I had to back up. Also knowing that full sharpness was not reached until F/5.6 I kept the lens at this stop to make the shots sharp. But there is no denying its ability to reach out and photograph someone at a distance and then turn around and get a shot close up. Also, the Canon 70-200 really stood out to people. I actually had several people ask what lens it was and could they look at it / hold it. Several workers made jokes about my large canon when I had it mounted.
On the Canon 135mm side there is no denying the quality of the photos and the ability to blur the background and still have a sharp subject at wide open apertures. The creamy smooth Bokeh and quality of the photos make them treasures I will show off and print for years to come. There is some 3d quality that these photos possess that the 70-200 just does not have. The Canon 135mm is much more stealthy with people not really thinking you are taking their photo from far away. No one asked to hold it or even what kind of lens it was. The workers didn't make jokes about having a large canon in fact there were a couple of workers that said they had seen bigger.
I love them both, but if I had to choose only one to take to the Renaissance Festival it would be the Canon 135mm F/2 USM L.
3-27-2008 Update
Just bought a new Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II lens.
Canon 85mm F/1.2 L vs Canon 135 F/2 L
I love my Canon 135mm F/2 L a lot and I am keeping it. Its light in weight compared to the 85mm F/1.2 L and it focuses very fast and balances well on a monopod and is easy to get great results with. However the Canon 85mm allows me to take photos inside and in tight quarters even if the focus is a little slow. My 135mm is mainly an outside lens or a lens I use when down in the crowd and shooting towards a stage or church platform. The 85 also allows me that almost a stop faster which allows me to get the shot when I am already at ISO 3200 and still not stopping the action with the 135. They are both keepers. Bottom line is if you just want to take great photos without working very hard for it and have the room to backup buy the 135mm F/2. If you are a photographer who loves a challenge and want to push yourself to the limit to get the absolute best Bokeh and don't mind the cost and weight get the 85mm F/1.2.
At F1.2 on the 85mm the Bokeh is more extreme almost like a painting but you have to work harder to get the shot (see my Canon 85mm F/1.2 lens review for more the Depth of Field at F1.2 up close is very narrow). So if you are on a budget have room to shoot and need a fast focusing easier to use lighter lens go with the 135. If you don't have the room need more light gather ability, love a challenge and don't mind the extra weight get the 85mm. If you have the money do like I did and get them both!!!
3-30-2008
Went on a major church photo shoot this weekend and did a lot of local testing of the Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II Lens against the Canon 135mm F/2 L lens. The Canon 135mm is the easier to get the shot lens with better focusing and no odd things to deal with. It pretty much reacts like all your other L lens with really quick auto focus, normal manual focus, easy to mount, normal battery consumption and a pretty high hit rate. My Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II is harder to mount on the camera, harder to get the shot and has electro focus and sucks down batteries. I pretty much feel the same way though as I did on the 3-27-08 update. They are both great lens to own. And when you do hit with the Canon 85mm F/1.2 L II it is out of the park fantastic and you will want to blow it up and mount it on the wall. Just know that with the Canon 135mm F/2 L lens you will have more keepers, have a lens that is easier on the batteries, easier to hold all day (lighter in weight), and you will work a lot less to get great shots with the Canon 135mm F/2 L lens. It's the lens that I would suggest someone buy that wants to make the great leap to great photos without having to work too hard to get them.
10-12-2008 Update:
Ever since I found out you have almost double the Bokeh on a full frame sensor camera I have put a new Canon 5D Mark II on order. Because of the physics of the sensor you can get almost twice as close with a given subject hince you get twice the bokeh. I can hardly wait.
Lens I currently Own:
Canon EF-S 17-55 F/2.8 IS Ultra sharp, great colors, great low light, poor zoom action
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Rebel XTi Kit lens Muddy, slow, pile of junk
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L Fantastic colors, sharp zoomed 17 to 24mm, ultra smooth zoom action, light weight
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L Fantastic colors and contrast, sharp zoomed 40 to 70mm, zoom a little stiff at first, heavy, repair prone!
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Good budget portrait lens, light weight, disposable, sharp from F/2.5
Canon EF 85mm F/1.2 L II The best portrait lens for female and children clients, buttery smooth Bokeh, heavy and expensive it shares sharpness with 135mm
Canon EF 135mm F/2.0 L The best portrait lens for males and tied with Canon 85mm F 1/.2 for sharpest lens I own, buttery smooth Bokeh
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L fantastic colors, sharp for a zoom, very versatile ego boosting and attention getting and heavy! My favorite zoom lens!!!
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L great IS, super colors, sharp for a zoom, extremely versatile, variable Bokeh, even more ego boosting and attention getting when extended and 400mm reach!!
My next lens purchase I'm saving for right now: _Canon EF 300mm F/2.8 IS L the finest lens ever
Outstanding November 1, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I own the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro, Canon 24-105mm f4L, and the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lenses. The Canon 135mm f2L blows them all away. If there is such a thing as a perfect lens, this its it. Images are clear, sharp, beautiful bohek, and they pop. At f2.0 it is as good as any other lens I use -- at 2.8 and above it is unmatched. I would find it hard to believe there is a better quality lens. If you buy this lens, you will not be dissapointed other than with the other lenses in your bag.
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