Canon 135 F2L - the best wedding portrait lens ?

andrewdaviesphotography wrote:

Looking to add to my current selection of lenses on the Canon 5D3 and 5D2s I use. Currently use 24,35 and 85 primes as well as 70-200 F4L with a backup of 24-105L, i prefer the use of primes and am looking at one longer prime to replace the 70-200 mainly for wedding portraits and engagement shoot / outdoor portraits. All the reviews point to the Canon 135mm F2L being the best , on charts it looks the equal of the 70-200 2.8L II with the benefit of F2.

Is this the best bokeh and portrait lens on Canon , or would anyone say there was a better option ?

thank you

Andrew

Wedding Photographer Newcastle Durham Teesside Darlington York

Dear Andrew,

The 135L can be a very special and heavily used lens of a wedding photo session.

During action, when I couldn't control my or the couple's position, I depended mostly on zooms. It was a 17-40 time on the 5DmkII and 70-200 on 5DmkIII. Moreover, I used mostly one-one flash on shoe, and sometimes ISO 3200... Brrrrr... I sacrificed a lot of things to catch the moment.

But when we had a spare hour between actions in a botanical garden or a railway station with the couple: it was high time for the cream master 135L.

On such locations I controlled the movement of the couple and I could easily step back for full body portraits. Two radio controlled flashes with soft boxes (yes, two assistants needed), and I rarely changed lenses. The 135L was on. This lens was not only sharp, had excellent bokeh and good MFD, but it focused fast and precisely on any of the 41 cross type focus points of the 5DmkIII. The focus performance was crucial as the one hour was really short. In such situations the 85L fooled me many times with slightly off focus shots. The 85L was really reliable only with the 5 double cross sensors, but then: focus - recompose...

I don't shoot weddings any more. For portraits, the 135L remained my most used lens.