Canon EF 135 mm f/2.0L USM Fixed Focal Length Lens

Spectacular, amazing, superb, razor sharp, best lens I own. When you search for reviews on this lens, these are the words that are used time and time again. Surely the Canon fans are exaggerating? No they're not.This lens is capable of delivering extremely sharp images. Not only that but when the aperture is fully open the creamy out of focus backgrounds are dream-like.Build quality is typically L series standard, solid, well made and weighty but not backbreaking. Take the end caps off it, hold it up to the light and you'll be amazing at how much glass is in this thing. Stick it on your Canon Camera and the amount of light it admits to your viewfinder, particularly if you're used to using slow zoom lenses, is a revelation.On a Crop sensor camera, such as the Canon 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D and 7D, you'll notice that the field of view is narrower than on a Full Frame Camera like the 5D or 5D Mk II. The lens is still a 135mm lens on the crop sensor model. People wrongly suggest that sticking a 135mm on a crop sensor magically increases the magnification by 1.6, i.e. you will get a 216mm lens. This isn't so, what you get is an image equivilent in width and height of what a 216mm lens would show on a Full Frame.In the real world this usually means that on a Crop sensor you'll have to take a few steps back sometimes to get everything in frame, compared to where you would stand with a Full Frame camera - not too much of a hardship.It also works extremely well with the Canon Canon EF 1.4x Converter (Mark II and Mark III), which DOES magnify the length of the lens to 189mm (with an equivilent view of what a 302mm lens would display on a Full Frame). There appears to be no loss of image quality with the 1.4x Converter.The lens comes with a small soft bag to store it in and the Canon ET-78 II lens hood. This is quite a deep hood and will certainly protect the front element of the lens from objects and sticky fingers. When fitted it certainly drew some looks and got people talking about it, but saying that, this is a superb portrait lens and what better way to engage people than talking to them - who knows you might just get a great photograph out of it.Price-wise, its mid range for a L series lens. Is it worth it? Yes every penny.

I bought this lens several months ago and have been thoroughly impressed with using it to date, the actual build quality is excellent as it should be, and the lens is of a nice chunky design and pleasingly heavy to use. The lens is superb, pin sharp, and very fast at f/2, you can completely obliterate the background if you so desire, and can achieve some lovely blurred effects when taking portraits or static cars head on but do be aware that at f/2 the depth of field is extremely shallow.I tend to shoot at f/2 for the max bokeh effect, but for portrait photos tend to shoot at f/2.8 or higher unless the light is poor.It really is a lovely lens - highly recommended.It's not cheap but it's well worth the money.

Some of the reviews I read before buying one of these called it the Lord of the Rings, i.e. top L series lens. I couldn’t comment because I’ve not used them all. But I have used some very good lenses, and this is the best.I use a EF 135mm f/2L on an EOS 5D MkIII for indoor events. The light gathering capability means it can be used without flash. It will isolate a subject, so they are perfectly sharp, but the whole of the background is just a creamy blur. For action events the large aperture enables full use of all the focus points. And the focus is quick enough to keep up with fast action, such as track cycling. Its black body and modest size make it far more discrete than a big white lens.It is a very capable high quality lens. I would recommend it to anyone with an Canon EOS system.

I own a good number of Canon's L lenses and must admit I have always wondered if this lens was as good as the reviews say. It was a bit of a luxury purchase as I already had the focal length covered by the great 70-200 f/2.8 L IS and also own the 100 f/2.8 L macro and 85 f/1.2 L II so already had great portrait and low-light prime medium telephoto lenses.This lens is absolutely superb. It's sharp - very, very sharp even wide open. It may well be slightly softer at f/2 but at 2.2 or 2.5 it's razor sharp. The images it produces are wonderful. High contrast and saturated colours of the quality you only get from Canon L Primes. It focuses very fast too, even in low light. I love my 85 f/1.2 but this gives similarly spectacular subject isolation shots for less than half the money!A real bargain!

Can't praise this lens enough. It's light, fast and very, very sharp. It has excellent colour rendition and the bokeh is very smooth. I've tried many L lenses and this has got to be one of the best ones, and unlike say the 85mm f/1.2 there's no learning curve with it. Just take it out and use it.I use it for street photography when I want to isolate a subject from the background, and at motorsports events for the back story (pits, etc). It's excellent for portraits, low light candid shots, etc, etc. Highly recommended.

What an amazing lens! I was torn between this and the 100L macro. After testing a 100L for a week (which I borrowed from a friend) I just was'nt blown away, although this is a great lens in its own right. I'am a wedding and portrait photographer and this lens is in it's element, The 135 is an AWESOME lens if you 're using a full frame body (I use a 5d MK II and 1ds MKIII).Kudos to the seller. Super fast delivery at an amazing price

I have owned this lens for almost 4 years now & can honestly say it's probably my most loved lens in my current collection. I favour it over the 70-200 f/2.8 is II as the larger aperture makes for a more versatile offering indoors and in reduced light conditions. Also, the fact that it's smaller & black rather than white is a tremendous advantage when trying to capture more candid scenes, especially portraits, which given the 135mm focal length is what this lens excels at in my opinion.