Canon EF 135mm lens

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EF 135mm f/2L USM

The Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM is a short-to-medium telephoto lens. The "135/2" is mainly used for portrait photography and for indoor sports, where the lighting is often poor. The fast f/2 aperture makes the lens ideal for both of these applications.

Telephoto lens

In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a telephoto group that extends the light path to create a long-focus lens in a much shorter overall design. The angle of view and other effects of long-focus lenses are the same for telephoto lenses of the same specified focal length. Long-focal-length lenses are often informally referred to as telephoto lenses although this is technically incorrect: a telephoto lens specifically incorporates the telephoto group.

Portrait photography photography genre

Portrait photography or portraiture in photography is a photograph of a person or group of people that captures the personality of the subject by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait picture might be artistic, or it might be clinical, as part of a medical study. Frequently, portraits are commissioned for special occasions, such as weddings or school events. Portraits can serve many purposes, from usage on a personal Web site to display in the lobby of a business.

Lighting deliberate use of light to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve a practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. Daylighting is sometimes used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings. This can save energy in place of using artificial lighting, which represents a major component of energy consumption in buildings. Proper lighting can enhance task performance, improve the appearance of an area, or have positive psychological effects on occupants.

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Among Canon photographers, the lens is highly regarded for its sharpness, contrast, and color rendition. The lens is also popular because it is very sharp at its maximum aperture of f/2, allowing the photographer to throw the background out of focus while recording a lot of detail on the primary subject. This gives the photographer fine-grained control over depth of field.

Depth of field Distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in focus in an image

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image. The depth of field is determined by focal length, distance to subject, the acceptable circle of confusion size, and aperture. A particular depth of field may be chosen for technical or artistic purposes. Some post-processing methods, such as focus stacking allow extended depth of field that would be impossible with traditional techniques.

The EF 135mm f/2L USM lens offers [[internal not change while focusing. The lens is compatible with the Canon Extender EF teleconverters.

Canon Extender EF

The Canon Extender EF lenses are a group of teleconverter lenses made by Canon. These lenses are used between any compatible EF type lens and any of the Canon EOS line of cameras. When used with a compatible lens, they will multiply the focal length of the lens by a factor of either 1.4x or 2x, at the cost of decreasing the lens' aperture by 1 or 2 stops respectively. For example, using a 1.4x or 2x extender with the Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM would result in a 700mm f/5.6 or 1000mm f/8 lens.

EF 135mm f/2.8 with Softfocus

The Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 with Softfocus is a soft focus prime lens introduced by Canon Inc. in 1987 designed for portrait photography.

Soft focus lens flaw which forms images that are blurred

In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while retaining sharp edges; it is not the same as an out-of-focus image, and the effect cannot be achieved simply by defocusing a sharp lens. Soft focus is also the name of the style of photograph produced by such a lens.

Prime lens

In film and photography, a prime lens is a fixed focal length photographic lens, typically with a maximum aperture from f2.8 to f1.2. The term can also mean the primary lens in a combination lens system. Confusion between these two meanings can occur if context doesn't make the interpretation clear. People sometimes use alternate terms—primary focal length, fixed focal length, or FFL to avoid ambiguity.

Canon Inc. is a Japanese multinational corporation specializing in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers, computer printers and medical equipment. It's headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.

This is the only EF lens that has soft focus capabilities, allowing the user to control the lens's correction of spherical aberration. This feature is controlled by rotating the soft focus selector which has three choices; 0, 1, and 2. On the 0 setting, it functions as a standard 135mm prime lens. Settings 1 and 2 adjust the amount of softness in the focus. This is done by rotating elements that are inside of the lens to create deliberate spherical aberration.

Spherical aberration Optical aberration

Spherical aberration is a type of aberration found in optical systems that use elements with spherical surfaces. Lenses and curved mirrors are most often made with surfaces that are spherical, because this shape is easier to form than non-spherical curved surfaces. Light rays that strike a spherical surface off-centre are refracted or reflected more or less than those that strike close to the centre. This deviation reduces the quality of images produced by optical systems.

Due to its old design, the 135mm SF does not feature USM technology; rather, it uses arc-form drive technology. Despite this, focusing is quite fast and reasonably quiet. Since focusing is achieved with the rear element, the front element does not rotate or extend. The lens supports all 52mm filters.

An ultrasonic motor is a type of electric motor powered by the ultrasonic vibration of a component, the stator, placed against another component, the rotor or slider depending on the scheme of operation. Ultrasonic motors differ from piezoelectric actuators in several ways, though both typically use some form of piezoelectric material, most often lead zirconate titanate and occasionally lithium niobate or other single-crystal materials. The most obvious difference is the use of resonance to amplify the vibration of the stator in contact with the rotor in ultrasonic motors. Ultrasonic motors also offer arbitrarily large rotation or sliding distances, while piezoelectric actuators are limited by the static strain that may be induced in the piezoelectric element.

The lens can be used with any camera that accepts EF lenses, but cannot be used with Canon's teleconverters.

Specifications

Attributef/2L USMf/2.8 w/Softfocus
Image Canon EF135mm F2.0L USM.jpg Canon EF 135mm softfocus.jpg
Key features
Full-frame compatible Yes check.svg Yes
Image stabilizer X mark.svg No
Ultrasonic Motor Yes check.svg YesX mark.svg No
L-series Yes check.svg YesX mark.svg No
Diffractive Optics X mark.svg No
Macro X mark.svg No
Technical data
Aperture (max-min)f/2–f/32f/2.8–f/32
Construction8 groups / 10 elements6 groups / 7 elements
# of diaphragm blades86
Closest focusing distance0.9 m (3.0 ft)1.3 m (4.3 ft)
Max. magnification0.19× (1:5.3)0.12× (1:8.3)
Horizontal viewing angle 15°
Diagonal viewing angle 18°
Vertical viewing angle 10°
Physical data
Weight750 g (1.65 lb)390 g (0.86 lb)
Maximum diameter82.5 mm (3.25 in)69.2 mm (2.72 in)
Length112 mm (4.4 in)98.4 mm (3.87 in)
Filter diameter72 mm52 mm
Accessories
Lens hoodET-78IIET-65III
CaseLP1219LP1016
Retail information
Release dateApril 1996October 1987
MSRP $ $1089$450
Street price $ $900$279

See also

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Canon EF 28–135mm lens

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Tilt–shift photography use of tilt in photography for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene

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Canon EF 500mm lens

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Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens camera lens

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Canon EF 800mm lens

The Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM lens is a super-telephoto lens by Canon Inc., released at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of US$11,999.00 and now selling at an MSRP of $12,999.00.

References

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