A Review of the Canon RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM Lens

135mm lenses have long been a popular second option to 85mm lenses for portrait photography, where their longer focal length and higher levels of telephoto compressions offer flattering renderings. Canon’s EF 135mm f/2L lens was long one of the company’s best hidden gems, offering fantastic image quality in tandem with deep contrast and colors and snappy autofocus. It’s successor, the RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM is here, and it looks like an awfully impressive lens. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in usage.

Coming to you from Bobby Tonelli, this excellent video takes a look at the new Canon RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM lens. 135mm lenses are a fantastic alternative to traditional 85mm lenses for portraiture work. The longer focal length offers an extra dose of flattering telephoto compression, but you also need to be aware of the fact that this necessitates a longer working distance, which may be tricky if you work in a small studio. The original EF 135mm f/2L has long been one of my favorite lenses, as it offers 95% of the magic of the EF 85mm f/1.2 with none of the headache. That being said, the new RF version looks like an impressive upgrade over the original and is sure to be a favorite of portrait and wedding photographers looking for superlative optical performance. Check out the video above for Tonelli’s full thoughts on the lens.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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1 Comment

Wow...does it matter?? Better than what? Fast 135mm's have been available for decades...Nikon probably the first? And they were good too. It's product for sales..I get that, but kit these days, and for many years has been "good enough".

But what about the photographers??