Howdy again everyone and today I'm Testing a lens I've been itching to get My hands on ever since it was announced The new Canon RF 135 millimeter F 1.8 L Is USM it's another of Canon's Absolutely top tier L lenses and as such It costs an eye watering 2 100 US Dollars or an even more expensive 2 500 Pounds here in the UK it's only for Canon's new EOS R mirrorless digital Cameras full frame or abs-c I'd like to Thank Canon UK very much for learning me A copy of this lens for a week for Testing although as usual this is a Totally independent review 135 Millimeter is one of those focal lengths I've fallen in love with over the years It is perfect for classic portrait Photography giving you a powerfully Autofocus background that's quite Compressed but not too much so it's also Very useful for subject photography Event and wedding photography even a Touch of land Escape work and the Maximum aperture of f 1.8 in this lens Can really bring your medium telephoto Images to life while it's actually Nothing new to have a 135 millimeter Lens with such a bite aperture as F 1.8 This is the first one in the world to Also feature image stabilization giving You a nicely stabilized image no matter What Canon EOS camera you're working on Here's some footage with this
Stabilization turned off and now turned On okay this stabilization isn't Rock Steady here but it is doing a pretty Fine job especially considering the Larger glass elements it's trying to Stabilize within it also works perfectly Quietly let's take a look at build Quality now the lenses impressive Capability is matched only by its rather Huge size and weight this thing tips the Scales at almost a kilogram or just over Two pounds so it's placed in your kit Bag will be very prominent and it'll Balance much better on a larger EOS R Camera other than that its build Qualities fairly typical for a modern Canon L lens although the lens's body is Mostly made of plastic it actually feels Nice and solid with plenty of weather Sealing including a gasket around the Metallic rear mount on the side we get Physical switches for autofocus and Stabilization which is not to be taken For granted these days as well as a Couple of customizable Focus hold Buttons then comes the rubberized manual Focus ring it turns very smoothly and The Focus motor responds well to it Being turned as you can see here this Lens is not immune to focus breathing Zooming in rather a lot as you focus More closely The lens utilizes Canon's incredible Nano USM autofocus system despite having
Large internal glass elements to move Around the autofocus motor works very Quickly accurately and completely Silently fantastic it had no problems With tracking or focusing in low light Either At the front we get one of Canon's Customizable control Rings which turns With gentle clicks to it you can send The lens away to Canon to have it De-clicked if you want for the price and It can control your aperture exposure Compensation or whatever else you set it To in your camera's menu the lenses Filter thread size has a large 82 Millimeters wide and The Lens comes with A generously sized Hood it doesn't come With a carry case overall it's the Typically nice build quality of a modern Canon lens here and I was particularly Impressed that its autofocus works so Powerfully and quickly Okay let's take a look at image quality Now we'll start by mounting it onto a Full frame camera my 45 megapixel Canon EOS R5 in camera Corrections are turned On straight from F 1.8 in the middle of The image we are treated to razor Sharpness and excellent contrast and in The image Corners exactly the same no Deterioration 10 out of 10 across the Entire 45 megapixel full frame image Right away from F 1.8 it's not often you See that here's F 2.8 and F4 naturally
There's not really any difference the Lenses still razor sharp it stays their Sharp down to f11 where a touch of Softness emerges due to diffraction and F16 looks softer again overall though as Stellar performance on full frame okay Let's challenge the lens a little Further by mounting it onto my Canon EOS R7 with its smaller and Incredibly Demanding 32.5 megapixel aps-c sensor But the lens easily Rises to the Occasion here even from F 1.8 we are Still seeing razor sharpness in the Middle of the image and back in the Corners stop down to F 2.8 to see an Absolutely minuscule Improvement to Those Corners that you probably can't Even see due to YouTube's compression The lens stays the sharp down to about F8 diffraction sets in tuna on a very High resolution aps-c camera so stopping Down to f11 leaves a considerably softer Image and at F-16 diffraction takes a Major tool still it's exceptionally rare To find a lens as sharp as this on an EOS R7 so even on abs-c again it's a Perfect performance Let's turn off in camera Corrections now And take a look at vignetting and Distortion on a full-frame camera the Lens projects a mild pin cushion Distortion technically it's a fault but It's amazingly common to see on portrait Lenses and it will actually make your
Subject look a little thinner if you Don't correct for it at F 1.8 there's Obviously some vignetting here but it Falls very softly across from the Corners again some photographers Actually like to keep this in your image Because it'll draw a little more Attention to your subject in the center Stop down to F 2.8 though and those Corners brighten up quickly this lens Configs as closely as 70 centimeters From your subject giving you potentially Great magnification here much closer Than usual for a portraits lens at F 1.8 Close-up image quality is rather soft And hazy unfortunately stop down to F 2.8 though and that great image quality Makes a return and at F4 close-up Sharpness is perfect again let's see how Well the lens works against Bright Knights now it's a performance on the Good side of average here there is a Fair bit of flaring to be seen at Certain points but it's fairly Translucent and contrast generally Remains nice and high a make or break Question for a lens like this is the Quality of its Barker occasionally Difficult backgrounds can generate a Slight jumbling to the image and we also Get the almost ubiquitous cat's eye Shaped to blockables in the corners of Your images but on the whole even quite Strong's pecular highlights look very
Smooth here and those backgrounds are Generally as gorgeous as they are Strongly diffused they almost look like The lenses using an appetization filter Or something Let's see about longitudinal chromatic Aberration now at F 1.8 a little Colorfinging on Boxer highlights is Visible here purple in the background And green in the foreground although are Certainly seem much worse than this Before it's top down to F 2.8 and it's Totally gone now which is a Saving Grace Overall well the Canon RF 135 millimeter F 1.8 L is simply a Stella optic in just About every way it's that simple a Sticking point for a lot of people will Be its cost it's asking price of over Two thousand dollars is a bit of pill to Swallow but in a lot of ways it's Understandable the lenses image Stabilization adds greatly to its Manufacturing cost surely it's autofocus And its Optics are pretty much the best In the world and the simple fact is that If you want the absolute best you have To pay for it cheaper options are Available out there if you don't quite Need this level of quality and if you're Happy to use the EF to RMF mount adapter But at the end of the day anyone who Bites the Billet on this 135 millimeter Monster won't be disappointed as it Performs absolutely unquestioningly and
So certainly comes highly recommended Foreign I've tested some stunning 135 millimeter Optics in the past congratulations to Canon for actually beating the Competition here and thank you for Loaning me the lens so I can get even More classy pictures for my wife's Facebook profile anyway thanks for Watching and a huge thanks to all my Patreon supporters for helping me to Keep these reviews Trucking on check out My patreon page in the description below If you find these reviews helpful and There you can find all kinds of Exclusive bonus content just for Supporters ciao for now everyone
