Dec 14, 2005, 11:33
Seeing as I've been such a good boy all year, Santa said I could buy myself a present. 
Last night I finally bit the bullet and placed my order for this baby - The Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L
It should arrive next week sometime... I'm excited!
<goes out to check mailbox>.. Nope, not here yet... :x <waits 5 minutes>.. <goes and checks mailbox again>... Still not here yet! :x :x
I'm getting this lens in part because I love my 50mm f/1.8 prime and want something better and of a different focal length, but also because I've been feeling the limitations of my EF 70-200 f/4 L when using it for sports. While I love the images of the 70-200 in good light and ideal conditions, I often have to make compromises when shooting things like indoor sports because of the f/4 max aperture. I've lost many shots due to not being able to get a fast enough shutter speed, and end up shooting at 1600ISO a lot more than I'd like to. :/ Plus I'm often left wishing I could open up the aperture wider to blur the background and make it less distracting in sports shots (and other shots too).
I was considering selling my 70-200 f/4 in favour of a 70-200 f/2.8 non-IS (IS is not enough benefit to me), but for what I'd be mainly using it for, I think I'd rather lose some zoom flexibility in favour of another stop of light and the amazing sharpness of the 135 f/2. And once I started looking at sample images from the 135... well I fell in love with it. Like the 50mm f/1.8, it really seems to have quite a distinct signature, and the bokeh and separation of subject and background of the 135 is to die for.
Ever since I first picked up the 50mm f/1.8 I was instantly seduced by the idea of fast primes, and while I originally thought a 50mm prime would be really awkward and not particularly useful, like any tool I simply learned to work with it and make the most of it. When it does something well, it does it REALLY well. And to my surpise I find having a 50mm prime *and* a zoom that covers the 50mm range to be useful and not redundant.
I think (hope) the same good things might be said for the 135mm f/2.0 - Its a kind of in-between focal length that will require a fair bit of zooming with my feet to get the shots I want, but is still a very handy length for many things. Indoor sports, tight candids, performances (bands, etc), portraits, weddings... there are lots of situations where I'd like to reach for a lens like this as a first option, and I've read enough comments on forums of "this is my favourite L lens" to believe it really is capable of living up to these expectations.
My next step (sometime after Christmas when my wallet has recovered) might be to get a Kenko Pro 1.4x and possibly 2.0x teleconverter(s). These seem to have a great reputation and I can buy both of them for less than it costs to buy one of the Canon TCs. They also fit on *all* Canon lenses (whereas the Canon and Sigma TC's physically don't fit on many lenses wider than 135mm) and the Kenkos don't report their presence to the camera (which means AF still works when effective aperture goes beyond f/5.6 - but it might not work very well because of the lack of light). And it seems the image quality is comparable to the Canon TC's allegedly.
I *might* find this setup makes my current 70-200 f/4L zoom redundant, as the TCs would allow my 50mm and 135mm primes to be used in the following combinations:
50mm f/1.8
70mm f/2.5
100mm f/3.6
135mm f/2.0
190mm f/2.8
270mm f/4
380mm f/5.6 (with both TC's stacked)
Importantly it gives me several choices in the 70-200mm range that are f/2.8 or faster. And a few extra bonuses if the TC's really do maintain high image quality.
And here are just a few samples that highlight the reasons I'm getting this lens...
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46135560
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46118870
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46136419
(note the shots above were taken on a full-frame 1DMk2, but the shots below have a 1.6x crop-factor)
http://www.pbase.com/jxsq/image/43675602
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861785
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861774
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861774
<goes out and checks mailbox one more time> grr.. still not here! :x
Last night I finally bit the bullet and placed my order for this baby - The Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L
It should arrive next week sometime... I'm excited!
<goes out to check mailbox>.. Nope, not here yet... :x <waits 5 minutes>.. <goes and checks mailbox again>... Still not here yet! :x :x
I'm getting this lens in part because I love my 50mm f/1.8 prime and want something better and of a different focal length, but also because I've been feeling the limitations of my EF 70-200 f/4 L when using it for sports. While I love the images of the 70-200 in good light and ideal conditions, I often have to make compromises when shooting things like indoor sports because of the f/4 max aperture. I've lost many shots due to not being able to get a fast enough shutter speed, and end up shooting at 1600ISO a lot more than I'd like to. :/ Plus I'm often left wishing I could open up the aperture wider to blur the background and make it less distracting in sports shots (and other shots too).
I was considering selling my 70-200 f/4 in favour of a 70-200 f/2.8 non-IS (IS is not enough benefit to me), but for what I'd be mainly using it for, I think I'd rather lose some zoom flexibility in favour of another stop of light and the amazing sharpness of the 135 f/2. And once I started looking at sample images from the 135... well I fell in love with it. Like the 50mm f/1.8, it really seems to have quite a distinct signature, and the bokeh and separation of subject and background of the 135 is to die for.
Ever since I first picked up the 50mm f/1.8 I was instantly seduced by the idea of fast primes, and while I originally thought a 50mm prime would be really awkward and not particularly useful, like any tool I simply learned to work with it and make the most of it. When it does something well, it does it REALLY well. And to my surpise I find having a 50mm prime *and* a zoom that covers the 50mm range to be useful and not redundant.
I think (hope) the same good things might be said for the 135mm f/2.0 - Its a kind of in-between focal length that will require a fair bit of zooming with my feet to get the shots I want, but is still a very handy length for many things. Indoor sports, tight candids, performances (bands, etc), portraits, weddings... there are lots of situations where I'd like to reach for a lens like this as a first option, and I've read enough comments on forums of "this is my favourite L lens" to believe it really is capable of living up to these expectations.
My next step (sometime after Christmas when my wallet has recovered) might be to get a Kenko Pro 1.4x and possibly 2.0x teleconverter(s). These seem to have a great reputation and I can buy both of them for less than it costs to buy one of the Canon TCs. They also fit on *all* Canon lenses (whereas the Canon and Sigma TC's physically don't fit on many lenses wider than 135mm) and the Kenkos don't report their presence to the camera (which means AF still works when effective aperture goes beyond f/5.6 - but it might not work very well because of the lack of light). And it seems the image quality is comparable to the Canon TC's allegedly.
I *might* find this setup makes my current 70-200 f/4L zoom redundant, as the TCs would allow my 50mm and 135mm primes to be used in the following combinations:
50mm f/1.8
70mm f/2.5
100mm f/3.6
135mm f/2.0
190mm f/2.8
270mm f/4
380mm f/5.6 (with both TC's stacked)
Importantly it gives me several choices in the 70-200mm range that are f/2.8 or faster. And a few extra bonuses if the TC's really do maintain high image quality.
And here are just a few samples that highlight the reasons I'm getting this lens...
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46135560
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46118870
http://www.pbase.com/gmontem/image/46136419
(note the shots above were taken on a full-frame 1DMk2, but the shots below have a 1.6x crop-factor)
http://www.pbase.com/jxsq/image/43675602
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861785
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861774
http://www.pbase.com/sly113/image/52861774
<goes out and checks mailbox one more time> grr.. still not here! :x
