The best Canon 135mm camera in photography is, quite simply, the Canon 135mm f/2 Camera Lens.

This prime lens offers very high quality images when paired with a pro camera body (such as the Canon 5D Mark IV). Not to mention, considering it is a prime lens that suits a very specific type of photographer – mainly portrait artists – the cost coming in at under $1,000 makes it far more budget accessible than most other Canon “red dot” lenses out there which are usually in the ballpark of $1,500 or more.

While we have already written a fairly detailed review of the Canon 135mm f/2 camera lens already, we thought we would share some more general thoughts about this 135mm camera lens, and why it can provide a lot of value for portrait photography.

Our Canon 135mm f/2 camera lens use cases

We consider this Canon 135mm camera in photography to be “the best” simply because of how well it performs for us under strain of shooting professional photos in a lot of different environments. As we mentioned in the intro to this post, the 135mm camera lens is really a niche product for a very specific type of photographer. As wedding photographers ourselves, it is especially important for us to make sense of owning this 135mm prime lens in addition to the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 II lens – which if you are unfamiliar – is a zoom lens that can shoot at a comparable focal length and offers a lot more shot flexibility in certain scenarios.

So, for now, let us discuss some specific use cases where we use (or have used) the 135mm camera lens –

Weddings –

Early on in starting our wedding photography business, we had purchased the Canon 135mm f/2 camera lens specifically for the purpose of shooting wedding ceremonies from farther back. We did this because we had to be very budget conscious, and at the time, the zoomable Canon 70-200mm was out of grasp as it is twice the price. For this purpose, it performed okay depending on the environment. It was certainly better than standing up front during the entire ceremony with a 50mm lens, but not ideal to capture a wide range of images. These days, we don’t recommend this lens for this purpose unless absolutely necessary. Really, a zoomable long focal length lens is going to be preferred, though.

With that said, shooting romantic portraits on the wedding day is just excellent with this lens. It is powerful, and the ability to drop to f/2 allows even more flexibility and compression than the zoomable f/2.8 lens.

Engagement Sessions –

Fitting in with wedding portraits is how this 135 camera lens suits engagement session photography well, too. It is especially optimal if you are a photographer who prefers to give the couple you are working with literal physical space to do their thing without feeling like you’re right up in their face the entire session. Unlike a zoomable lens, a 135mm prime lens forces you to work with this specific focal length, and as a result, the specific distance you will need to stand back from your subject. There is a lot of artistic potential and the ability to capture moments of intimacy and laughter during an engagement session is…well…perfect! 🙂

General Portraits –

If you’re not getting the point by now, the 135mm Canon lens is suited best for portrait photography. With that said, portrait photography runs a gamut – whether working with individuals, families, couples, animals, etc. – the 135mm has a lot of power. In addition, it’s performance is well suited both for natural light and outdoorsy portraits as well as in studio portraits utilizing flash. The key consideration you will want to keep in mind is the amount of space you have available – especially when indoors.
 

Landscapes –

Maybe a “different” use case, the Canon 135 camera lens is a unique choice for landscape photography. While we were traveling around Iceland, we occasionally would pull out this lens specifically to shoot the environment. More specifically, when available to us, we love to capture the scale of large environments by using people or other things we can easily relate to in terms of size. In a particular situation, we opted to use the 135mm lens at a low f-stop specifically to capture a couple of people sitting, with a immense glacier behind them. The intent in our mind when snapping the photo was to let some more light in, blur out the glacier to some extent, and let the image be about the couple themselves who are the focus of the image.

An easy choice for portrait photographers

If you are looking for the best Canon 135mm camera in photography, the Canon 135mm f/2 camera lens when paired with a quality camera body will do the trick. It really is a beautiful lens, and has helped us to create some vivid portraits in our time shooting with it (about 2 years now). Like has been mentioned throughout this post, it is not a lens for every photographer – it is really best suited for taking portraits – but if this is a style of photography you are working with, it may very well suit your needs in significant ways.

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