Hey Trevor, great article! Everyone assumes their definition is the "true" one. The best 200mm lens is precisely the older 200mm F4 SMC Takumar, which comes with the M42 camera thread, and requires the M42-EOS adapter. This brings me to my question. Stuff I used to take the photos. This lens has a long focus adjustment ring, with great tension. Above $2500 cameras tend to become increasingly specialized, making it difficult to select a 'best' option. Also, as creative as the wide-field 135mm focal length is, its not practical for smaller DSOs and most galaxies. I wanted to add my experience with some lenses that I thought worthy of being considered too, and some of the equipment that I have used. And yet this review is on front page of DPReview prompting me to go and buy this lens -- so surely it must be a professional , well grounded review, right? In excellent condition, this lens retails for around $200. The 135mm Rokinon with the Canon Rebel seems like a pretty good setup. The aperture range of this lens is F/2 to F/22, with 9 diaphragm blades (aperture blades) that work in harmony to set your f-stop. The 200f2.8 L is excellent - I am using it right now. The spec sheet for the Rokinon 135mm F/2 boasts a number of qualities, with the ones listed below being the most important when it comes to night photography and astro. The screws should be set sufficiently tightly to prevent shift, yet not so tightly as to interfere with fine focusing. Tamron has announced its 11-20mm F2.8 Di III-A RXD ultra-wide angle zoom will be made available for Fujifilm X-mount. Samyang 85mm f1.83. One of my very best lenses! I don't know about other photographers but I do not have many applications for this focal length. Excellent build quality, fast auto focus, and its fast. In the past, Ive covered a number of different lenses, from the Sigma 24mm F/1.4 to the Canon EF 300mm F/4L. Sure, the Nifty 50 is an incredible value (and a LOT cheaper), but the 135mm puts you within range of some of the best astrophotography targets in the night sky. Round one of polls are now open, pick your winners and share your voice. But If you want the "look" you get with a medium telephoto at f/2, hen all those negatives become irrelevant. Overall, spectacular lens. I use it to photograph highschool basketball in poor light. For me, that's enough. You can also find him as @mwroll on Instagram and 500px. In photoshop I love to zoom 200, 300 and even 400% to see the extreme details it is an absolutely amazing lens, great backround blur, great for low light weddings with available light. Got it! Can I assume that this article applies only to full frame & not to micro four thirds? The reason the 135mm lens was that it was the longest lens that would focus with a Leica rangefinder. Valerio, Electronically Assisted Astronomy (No Post-Processing), Community Forum Software by IP.BoardLicensed to: Cloudy Nights, DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging, This is not recommended for shared computers, Back to DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging, Buckeyestargazer 2022 in review and New Products. Fast continuous shooting, reliable autofocus and great battery life are just three of the most important factors. Asahi Optical's Pentax KX was one of the first cameras with this lens mount, acting as a midrange model in the lineup. However, I am convinced that its large aperture and fast F ratio would perform exceptionally well in three color or narrow band H-alpha and OIII photography. In this review, however, I am using the lens on a crop sensor (APS-C) Canon EOS 60Da, which puts the field of view at 12.4 degrees. I got mine for $60.00 on Craigslist but seen them on eBay for $100 and less all the time. if you really want to get the best gym photos that can be taken, use it and enjoy what you will see. This way you get both lenses with only one! The flat lens hood is great for taking flat frames after a night of astrophotography. For posed portraiture, it's a very nice budget option.FWIW, I'm a corporate portrait and event pro. I'm not a fan of the large hood. The Rokinon 135mm F/2.0 ED UMC is one of the most affordable and practical lenses for astrophotography on the market. With weather sealing this would be a 10. Yes, it is about the same as 85mm f/1.4 blur factor is 60mm, while 135mm f/2 blur factor is 67mm. I mainly use for head shot photography. Bottom line, this is just an outstanding lens by any measure, one that makes clear why you'd want to pay the freight for expensive prime glass. It seems lazy to me. But the Rokinon f/2 version fits into a different market. Far from being a generic run-of-the-mill image hosting website, it was created and is still operated by an astrophotographer, and boasts features that are very specific to astrophotography. Amazing for portraits, easily fast enough for indoor sports. However, they can be perfectly corrected with narrow band H-alpha or OIII filters. This is one of the sharpest lens i've ever owned. This looks to be an excellent lens with fantastic results. If this was used to shoot video you would think that the first image was using a green screen. Images that sing. And with our first long lenses we were all impressed were we not? The moment I tried the Samyang 135mm F2 for the first time after purchasing it, I immediately felt that it was a very special lens. @juksu - you're such a liar. Super sharp from f2. My copy has very stiff manual focus though and is quite heavy. I had both for a while. The 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.2 is another story.While the 135mm f/2, in general, is a good lens, there are lots of lenses other than the 135 f/2 that will produce a very smoothly blurred background, including zoom lenses.It sounds like Micael is new to photography.Just my impression from this article. For some reason Samyang makes lenses nobody is asking for. The lens is so crisp that the diaphragm blade pattern is visible on point light sources shot at large aperature. The full name of this lens is the Rokinon 135mm F/2 ED UMC, with "ED" standing for extra-low dispersion, and UMC referring to the "ultra multi-coated" optics. Build quality: excellent. Using the lens's diaphragm interferes with the light path and results in diffraction spikes which I find unattractive. The lens is not weather-sealed, so you definitely dont want to leave your camera and lens (and your tracking mount!) They are by nature designed to compromise by magnification and distance, and are therefore not optically optimized at any single setting. Magical images, great AF, great close focusing abilities. Family moments are precious and sometimes you want to capture that time spent with loved ones or friends in better quality than your phone can manage. So whats so great about shooting at 135mm anyway? Selecting between it and the 200mm Takumar was not an easy choice but, in the end, I chose the Takumar because it seemed to have slightly better contrast. By the way, I still enjoy using my very sharp Sears 135mm, PKA mount lens. Yeah I agree that the sentiment that they were designed to be used stopped down is wrong as they were designed to be used wide open because they had to be for speed (my point above). When i just judge by the indicator line as i click through, it seems like its 19 that gets skipped wondering if there is anything more definite? A coupe of stage shows, one very recent, and a random collection using this lens exclusively No rear seals - since the 17-40 Canon has added rear seals to L lenses, to help in weather sealing. Photography is full of fuzzy concepts. Would you recommend a collar/support for the lens? (For Nikon users there's the new 105mm too.). Thanks, Chris, hi Trevor my name is sagar i have same lens but i have one question why lot of stars are appearing in my image which is taken thru rokinon 135mm, Your email address will not be published. It's March, and in America that means it's time to start arguing over which college athletics team is the best at basketball. For my purposes, this is a spectacular lens. The Rokinon 135mm F/2 ED UMC lens. I rarely shoot static landscapes or posed, composed images. Here's what I see from the photographs:#1: Woman in traffic. Thanks for the fine article and the thought you put into it. I really wanted to use, and like, a 135mm f2 lens so I bought the Canon version. In between interviews with executives of the major companies, Dale Baskin took to the show floor to bring you this report. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbrigham/314771597/ Beautiful portrait lens. And only the cat photo has something OK (but it is a cat shot You easily get them look good). The foolproof image seems to be more a case of how a bright fuzzy cluttered moving background can completely detach from the offset dark subject matter and overwhelm it. http://www.radiantlite.com/2009/01/canon-135mm-f2l-usm-mini-review.html Its nice to have the F/2. There are quite a few other excellent lenses out there, and nowadays, quite a few that can be used wide open. From far to near, the AF is instantaneous. This criticism refers to rare cases when your main subject matter is flat and completely inside the limited DOF range while the rest of the image is outside. DPReview March Madness, round one - vote! Canon's 700-200 zooms have IS and are weather sealed two features that the 135 f/2 lacks. The lens came in a handsome box, with core specifications and a lens construction diagram printed on the side. With the 135 I imagine I'd have to get up on the roof. This includes everything from the rich star fields of Sagittarius, to a complete look at the Andromeda Galaxy. Lots of older lenses no longer satisfy. The following image was captured by Eric Cauble using the Samyang branded version of this lens. Second night out with mine right now and I am here in the comments looking for the part number or link! What I see is a photographer who should maybe instead stick to the kit lens, and learn composition first. That means that it doesnt require a robust equatorial telescope mount as a larger, heavier telephoto lens would. Large emission nebulae like the California Nebula (pictured below) are a great choice for this focal length. My copy is 12-years-old and still delivers at over 75 weddings a year. for sample photos and video tour, This is simply the best Canon prime lens that I have tested. RATING. Astrophotography is one of the ultimate tests of lens quality, as long exposure photography of deep-sky objects in space can highlight issues that are hidden during daytime photography. It's just "girl" in front of blurriness.#2: Plants on a pond.It's okay. The second best, is the Hoya Pro One Digital MC UV(0) filter. Will this ever get old? Hate these presumptuous kinds of articles and headlines. I understand the optical design is quite old. I shoot it wide open 90% of the time. The first telephoto lens of choice, especially recommended for beginners, is the 135mm F2.5 SMC Pentax. Contrasty but not harsh. No rubber sealing against the camera body tend to give me the creeps when shooting in the wet. As I posted on the Petapixel variant of this article, cropping a 85/1.4 shot to a 135mm-equivalent FoV gives you approx. Aperture ring. Very sharp even at f2, build quality, price, weight, autofocus is fast, bokeh, No IS, flare, autofocus isn't quite as consistent as some newer lenses, focus speed, image quality, predictability, Image quality, build like a tank, focus ring, weight. This is actually worse than just plain obsession with blur. Valerio, I sold my Canon Lens because in Nikon Lens there is a Defocus control option, very usefull in a daylight photos, as portrait. Perhaps it's not a big thing, but for a L-graded lens this feature should be expected. I used this lens quite a bit years ago as my main working lens. However, for $15 I also bought an old Tamron Adaptall 2, 135 mm f2.5. The original poster is right that it was a compromise though and stopping down was necessary for critical sharpness and a better image. The shallow depth of field present at its maximum aperture does indeed create a pleasing bokeh. For comparison, no other lens I know of would earn more than 8/10. Typical L construction. One thing I am most stun is its AF performance. OTOH you can now get a 70-180 f2.8 zoom that weights virtually the same and is only a tiny bit longer (Tamron's on E mount, like 20mm longer than the AF SY or most other modern 135s), and there's lighter than ever 85/1.4s (eg Sigma's DN for L/E mount) that can achieve a very similar look while coming in at 600g, tho at an even higher price. Sharpness, contrast and the natural vignetting on full-frame cameras is awesome! Fast. During the frigid months of winter, my motivation to spend over an hour setting up my complete deep-sky imaging rig dwindles. Oh yes, and it leads to lusting after other primes! One difference worth pointing out is for those who image using narrowband filters. The aperture ring is marked with each f-stop, and you need to manually click through F/2 F/22 and watch the blades do their work.