The one, the only, the 135L. Yup. I'm going to write an entire post about a lens.
I wouldn't trade this lens for anything (well, maybe if somebody wanted to trade for a Ferrari). This is hands down one of my favorite lenses to use. I haven't found anything it doesn't do well. You name it, it'll do it, and do it well. Landscapes, portraits, sports, events, still-life, cars, lions, tigers and bears, oh my.
Wait, hold up. Did this dude just suggest that you can use a 135mm lens for landscapes? Yup, I did. I rarely shoot landscapes anyway, but, when I do, I always consider using the 135L. I've got a friend, BoldPuppy, who uses his 135L quite a bit for landscape work. Take a look!
One of my favorite things about this lens is that it makes you think a bit harder about your composition. You simply can't fit as much in the frame as you could with, say, a 17mm lens. But, if you think hard enough, you'll be able to "represent" everything in the 17mm frame in a 135mm frame if that makes any sense.You won't need 17mm for every shot that should be "wide". Nope. You only need 18mm.:)
Try it sometime. Even if you don't have a 135mm lens, you can still try this if you have a 70-200 or some lens that hits the 135mm mark.
Go outside, take a picture (try to make it somewhat interesting) with the widest lens you have. For me, it's my Canon 17-40 f4 L. Now, try to shoot the same thing with a 135mm lens, or a zoom lens at the 135mm mark.
Let's say you took a picture of a tree. With that wide lens, you'll probably be able to get the whole tree in the shot from (depending on the height of the tree) maybe 20' away. You'd have to be in the next city over to do that with a 135mm lens, right? Yep.
But, let's say you can make the picture you take with the 135mm lens mean just as much as the one you took with the wide lens.
Maybe you'll get a picture of a branch with some leaves on it, or maybe just one leaf, or maybe the bark is interesting. I'll bet you like the picture with the 135mm lens better.
Go on, try it. I want to see your results. Upload them to Flickr or something and drop me a link in the comments.
Keep in mind this doesn't just apply to Canon's 135mm lens. This stuff works with the Nikon version too...bit it'll cost you. :)
I'll do another post soon with some examples.
Later.
-A
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