Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens Review

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM Performance

Sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent from maximum aperture, although clarity towards the edges of the frame falls behind somewhat. Stopping down improves sharpness towards the edges of the frame, whilst maintaining the same high levels of clarity in the centre. Peak sharpness across the frame is achieved between f/5.6 and f/8 where the clarity recorded approaches outstanding levels.

MTF @ 135mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are extremely well controlled, just exceeding a quarter of a pixel width at f/22 towards the edges of the frame. This low level should no issues, even in large prints and harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

CA @ 135mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is typical of a lens of this focal length and aperture. Here the corners of the frame are 1.7 stops darker than the image centre and illumination is visually uniform with the lens stopped down to f/5.6.

Distortion is stronger than you might expect with Imatest detected 1.3% pincushion distortion which may become noticeable in certain circumstances. As the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, it should be relatively simple to correct in image editing software afterwards.

A deep circular hood is supplied as standard with this lens, which does an excellent job of shading the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues with flare. Even without the hood, the lens is not overly susceptible to flare and contrast remains high when shooting into the light.

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