SLR Geek

Take a look at the Harp lady photo below taken at F/2 with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 135mm F/2 L lens. Notice how the strings on her harp are out of focus until right next to her shoulder.

How different does the Bokeh look at different F Stops? Look at the backgrounds in the photos below. All taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and all at the same distance.

F/2

F/2.8

F/4.0

F/5.6

How about the difference between this lens at F/2 on a full sensor camera like the Canon 5D Mark II and a cropped sensor camera like the 40D? I tried to line this up as close as possible but basically had to back up about double the difference from the 5D Mark II to the 40D to get the same point of view photo. Notice how different the back ground becomes both in distance to objects and to the background blur

F/2 Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 135mm F/2 L

F/2 Canon 40D and Canon 135mm F/2 L

Canon 135mm F/2 L lens VS Canon 85mm F/1.2 II L lens:

The Canon 135mm F/2 L lens is: lighter, cheaper, faster to focus, easier to mount, and easier on batteries then the Canon 85mm F/1.2 L lens. The 85mm F/1.2 lens has a little wider angle of view is softer wide open for female portraiture and when both are stopped down has slightly better contrast and is a little sharper. But wide open the 135mm is King in the sharpness department. A great portrait lens on 1.6 cropped sensor cameras (40D/50D, Rebels) if you have room to backup and amazing on a full frame camera.

Background:

I purchased this 135mm F/2L lens to supplement my favorite portrait lens the excellent but hard to use Canon 85mm F/1.2 II L lens. I love to do portraits at: weddings, renaissance festivals, air shows, public events, etc. and wanted and easer to carry, smaller lighter package.

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.

Manual focus ring:

Not that you need it, the auto focus works so well, but I love how wide and easily reached the manual ring is. Large, perfectly placed and dampened and accurate it is a pleasure to use.

How to look through the window:

Always shoot in raw. Practice is the key. Focus on the eyes. Squeeze off several photos. Chances are one of the shots will be sharper then all the others.

Always process your raw photos using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP). Don’t be afraid to adjust images to your liking, the 5D Mark II and this lens respond exceptionally well to changes in DPP. Select one, several or all of your images and click on TOOLs and adjust the sharpness as needed. This lens tends to need a little help with the color and contrast. Click back on the RAW tab in tools and slide the Saturation and Contrast over to 3 or even 4 or what ever makes you happy. Just viewing the images on-line? Try saving them to the size of your monitor screen 17inch for a 17 inch screen etc. and 72dpi only. Of course for printing you will want to make it 200 or even 300 DPI and as big as you need to print for your dimensions.

Pros:

Light and well balanced
Long hood protects filter
Perfect indoor sports lens
Perfect candid public event portrait lens
Amazingly super fast right on the money auto focus
Sharp wide open, amazingly sharp stopped down to F/2.8
Bokeh, Bokeh, Bokeh oh how I love thee!! Long live Bokeh!
Stealth: Nice small black and un-noticed even with the hood
Built in back drop anywhere you go courtesy of super Bokeh F/2.0
Focus ring is large, perfectly placed and dampened and accurate and is a pleasure to use.
This lens has Auto Lens Vignetting correction using peripheral Illumination control see Auto Vignetting in DPP and for in camera JPEG for Canon 50D and 5D Mark II and newer camera bodies:

Cons:

No image stabilization (would be larger, heavier and more expensive)
Sensitive to low battery on Rebel XTi (does not focus well with low bat) fine on the 5D Mark II and Canon 40D.
Can be a little long indoors in confined spaces with cropped sensor camera

Conclusion:

The Canon EF 135mm F/2 L lens is the finest portrait lens anywhere near it’s price range bar none. Everyone I know who owns one loves it!

It even looks great on the Canon Rebel XTi, see photo of Twig the Fairy below.