佳能镜头CanonEFmmfLUSM-USB迷|专注于互联网分享

2024年8月29日发(作者：符悦爱)

Introduction

The Canon EF 135mm f/2 L USM is one of the medium tele lenses in the Canon lineup and a member of

Canon's prestigious "L" (Luxury) class. A few years ago we performed a test in the APS-C scope already and

it turned out to be a superb performer here so it's naturally interesting to check its qualities on a high

resolution full format body as well now.

The mechanical quality of the lens is truly excellent thanks to quality materials, tight build tolerances and a

smooth and well damped rubberized focus ring. The lens has a "true" IF design so it does not change its

physical length and the front element does not rotate during focus operations. The lens accepts all Canon EF

tele-converters resulting either in a 189mm f/2.8 (135mm + 1.4x) or 270mm f/4 (135mm + EF 2x)

combination. This resulting max. aperture is still fairly large so AF is retained on all EOS cameras.

The AF speed is very fast so the build-in focus limiter isn't really necessary. The AF of the tested sample was

highly accurate during the field tests. Thanks to the ring-type USM drive the AF operation is near silent and

full-time manual focusing (FT-M) remains possible in one-shot AF mode.

Specifications

Optical construction 10 elements in 8 groups incl. 2x UD elements

Number of aperture blades 8

min. focus distance (max. magnification: ~1.5)

Dimensions 83x112mm

Weight 750g

Filter size 72mm (non-rotating)

Hood barrel shaped, supplied

Other features -

Distortions

The Canon lens produces a comparatively mild degree of pincushion distortion (0.5%) which is usually not

field relevant.

Vignetting

Full format sensors are difficult beings with respects to vignetting and even the mighty Canon EF 135mm f/2

USM L has its problems here. At around 1.5EV @ f/2 the situation isn't overly dramatic but this degree of

vignetting is often visible in field conditions. However, stopping down to f/2.8 solves most of the problem

and it's pretty much negligible by f/4. This is a comparatively good performance for an ultra large aperture

lens here.

... and here's a visual ...

f/2

MTF (resolution)

The EF 135mm f/2 USM L produced very high resolution figures in the MTF lab. The center is already

excellent at max. aperture and the border quality is only one mark behind. The quality improves gradually

from here on and it reaches its peak around f/5.6 where the resolution is excellent across the image frame.

Diffraction reduces the quality level from f/8 onwards but it remains easily on a very good level at f/11.

Below is a simplified summary of the formal findings. The chart shows in line widths per picture height

(LW/PH) which can be taken as a quantity for sharpness. If you want to know more about it you may check

out the corresponding Imatest Explanations.

The bokeh (quality of the out-of-focus blur) is a major performance criteria for a large aperture lens and the

EF 135mm f/2 USM L does not disappoint us here. Out-of-focus highlights are exceptionally smooth and

even and they are perfectly circular at f/2 - at least a little inward from the corners (they deteriorate a little

towards an elliptical shape here). The highlights remain pretty much circular at f/2.8 whereas you can spot

the first aperture edges at f/4. The quality of the blur is very smooth. All-in-all an excellent quality here.

Chromatic Aberrations (CAs)

Similar to many other high-end tele prime lenses lateral CAs (color shadows at harsh contrast transitions)

are very low and really nothing to worry about.

Bokeh

Some readers in our forum expressed the hope the this lens is a true APO design. Unfortunately this is not

the case. It suffers from LoCAs (non-coinciding focal planes of the various colors), sometimes also called

bokeh fringing - as you can see below the halos have different colors - magenta (red + blue) in front the

focus point and green beyond. Truly "apochromatic" lenses don't show LoCAs but these lenses are very rare

and usually insanely expensive. Unlike lateral lateral CAs, LoCAs cannot easily be fixed in post processing.

Typical for most fast primes the 135mm L shows a considerable amount of LoCAs at large aperture settings

(which can be field relevant in critical scenes). Stopping down helps to reduce the amount of LoCAs

significantly but it takes f/4 to eliminate the problem. Please note that this may not be perfect but even the

brand new Zeiss ZA 135mm f/1.8 shows the same characteristics here.

Move the mouse cursor over the f-stop marks below to observe the respective LoCAs

f/2

Bokeh Fringing / Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations (LoCA)

Sample Images

Here're some sample shots taken with the EOS 5D II (RAWs converted via CaptureOne). Click on a

thumbnail to view the original file (opens in a separate window).

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/1600s

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

Make

Model

1/8000s

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

Need Unlimited photo storage ? Try ...

Make

Model

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

... trusted by PhotoZone!

Make

Model

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

Make

Model

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

1/1250s

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/8000s

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/2000s

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

1/8000s

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

Exposure

Make

Model

Make

Model

Verdict

The Canon EF 135mm f/2 USM L is a highly desirable lens with excellent performance figures in most

aspects. It is very sharp and contrasty straight from f/2 and it's outstanding at f/5.6. The bokeh is

exceptionally smooth and buttery at f/2 and f/2.8 although it suffers a bit from bokeh fringing at these large

aperture settings. Neither distortions nor lateral CAs are field relevant. The only real weakness is the

amount of (visible) vignetting at f/2. Flare is generally no big issue but you should use the supplied lens

hood in critical situations. The build quality of the lens is excellent and the AF performance is on a very high

level. Regarding all the goodness that we've seen from this lens we have to praise it with our rare HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED!

Optical Quality:

Mechanical Quality:

Price/Performance:

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

ISO Speed 200

Focal

1/2000s

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

1/8000s

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/2000s

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

Make

Model

Make

Model

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/2500s

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

Make

Model

Make

Model

Canon

Canon EOS 5D

Mark II

ISO Speed 200

Focal

Length

Aperture:

Exposure

1/6400s