considering purchasing a portrait lens...

135mm/f2.8 w softfocus 85/f1.8 usm 100/f2 usm

what do you think?

-- howard shen (hshen@lsm.org), March 04, 2000

Answers

I don't know much about the 135/2.8 but IMO the relatively slow aperture is not worth the sacrifice for the softfocus feature. Take a "normal" lens and add a softening filter if you really need the effect. This artificial softening was nice in the 70s but today I see very few professional pictures taking "advantage" of that.

As for the 85mm or 100mm - it's more a matter of taste. Personally I would prefer the 100/2 or even better the 135/2L. Optically these "normal" lenses should be quite comparable.

-- Klaus Schroiff (klaus@photozone.de), March 05, 2000.

I've used and loved the Canon EF135 2.8 Soft focus lens and the 85mm 1.8 USM lens for about 5 years now. Both are excellent but serve different purposes.

The 135 is a mirco-motor rather than a USM design and thus lacks the full-time manual focus override of Cannon's 100mm and 85mm USM lenses. Nevertheless, it focus very fast due to the movement of small inner lens elements rather than a large front element. At 135mm its max aperture of 2.8 is plenty big to maintain a narrow depth of field to blur busy backgrounds during portraits. Without the soft focus feature this would be a very fine lens. However, the choice of 2 soft focus settings is a bonus. I personally find the no. 1 setting too soft for portraits (it's nice for impressionistic landscapes). I like the no. 2 setting at about F4 with back lighting for portraits of older females (they like it because imperfections disappear!). The soft focus effect doesn't work at apertures smaller than 5.6.

I find that 135mm gives subjects a thinner look than my 85mm (this is usually good!).

Problems? 135mm is too long for most indoor portraits unless you have a very big room--85mm or 100mm may be better suited for studio work. It, like the 85 & 100mm USM lenses, lacks Macro ability, but it will still give a nice, tight head & shoulders portrait.

Aloha

-- Kun of Kukui (lccplucker@aol.com), March 06, 2000.

Although some don't seem to like extremely sharp lenses for portrait work, I find the EOS 100/2.8 macro to be a marvelous portrait lens, as well as an outstanding all-around 100mm lens. The 85/1.8 is nearly as sharp towards the center, and although i have not used the 100/2, I understand it is akin to the 85/1.8 in terms of sharpness.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), March 07, 2000.

My vote is for the 85mm f1.8 with Zeis Softar I if desired. Perhaps not as convenient as the built-in softener of the 135, but the extra speed and USM of the 85mm outweigh that inconvenience.

-- Scott Flathouse (seflathouse.pampa@celanese.com), March 13, 2000.