135mm f/2 lens recommendation

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

For years, I have not needed a 135mm lens for my Nikon SLR cameras (F2, F4, N70) because the following Nikon lenses have met my needs:

105mm f/2.5
180mm f/2.8
80-200mm f/2.8

Recently, I have been considering the purchase of one of the following 135mm f/2 lenses because I have been shooting more stage performances and need more light gathering:

Rokinon manual focus; 77mm filter; $550
Nikon auto focus; 72mm filter; $1400
Zeiss manual focus; 77mm filter; $1800

Any comments, suggestions, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

pbromaghin · Nov 29, 2015

Good God, that's a lot of money.

Jesper · Nov 29, 2015

Have you considered a manual focus Nikkor? They are a lot cheaper (I paid about $150 for mine).
Does it have to be 135mm? The Nikkor 200/2 is excellent.

Ricardo Miranda · Nov 29, 2015

There is a Samyang 135mm F2 ED UMC that can be bought new for about £415.

David A. Goldfarb · Nov 29, 2015

The Canon 135/2 FD was a real standout lens, but a bit of a sleeper, because it wasn't an "L". The EOS version, which I owned for some time, is an L and is also outstanding, but not necessarily moreso than the FD version. Considering the cost of the Nikon versions, it might be worth looking into the FD version and having a dedicated body for it, presuming you don't need it for one of those gizmos we don't discuss on APUG.

Theo Sulphate · Nov 29, 2015

Consider the 135/2 AF-D DC Nikkor. You can focus it manually and the Defocus Control is excellent for controlling background or foreground bokeh while leaving the subject perfectly sharp.

I use it on my D700, but could just as easily use it on any F-mount Nikon.

darkosaric · Nov 29, 2015

Theo Sulphate said:
Consider the 135/2 AF-D DC Nikkor.

+1

Richard S. (rich815) · Nov 29, 2015

That's a lot to pay for just one more stop of light, and also a lot heavier of a lens. Monopod or slightly faster film not a viable alternative?

karl · Nov 29, 2015

The image quality on the 105 and 135 f2 DC lenses is really amazing. You can often find them used for around $700. I miss the 105/2 DC I used to have. Great lens. They share the same lens barrel, which is not particularly bulky.

splash_fr · Nov 29, 2015

I really like my Samyang 135/2111

tom43 · Nov 29, 2015

I own The Zeiss 135 ApoSonnar. It is one of the best lenses you can buy for Money, no doubt. But together with the Nikon SLR cameras with AF it is hard to obtain perfect focus because of viewfinder limitations (e.g. With my D810, F6, F100, F80). In contrast it is usable with the FM3a. To be honest: For most films you will not see much difference between the mentioned lenses. Most Film types have not enough resolution. This might be different once you use high-res B/W film like Adox CMS 20 II....

Fixcinater · Nov 29, 2015

Have you considered the older 77mm Sigma 135/1.8? There were some others with 82mm filter threads, simpler lens construction.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

pbromaghin said:
Good God, that's a lot of money.

I agree! I am having a hard time justifing spending that much money to gather twice as much light.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

Jesper said:
Does it have to be 135mm? The Nikkor 200/2 is excellent.

The 200/2 is a good suggestion except that it is a G lens that does not have the aperture ring that is needed for proper exposure control on my older bodies.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

Ricardo Miranda said:
There is a Samyang 135mm F2 ED UMC that can be bought new for about £415.

Good suggestion! I understand that the Samyang and the Rokinon are produced by the same Korean manufacturer.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

David A. Goldfarb said:
The Canon 135/2 FD was a real standout lens, but a bit of a sleeper, because it wasn't an "L". The EOS version, which I owned for some time, is an L and is also outstanding, but not necessarily moreso than the FD version. Considering the cost of the Nikon versions, it might be worth looking into the FD version and having a dedicated body for it, presuming you don't need it for one of those gizmos we don't discuss on APUG.

Thanks for a very creative suggestion. However, I also plan on using the lens on one of those gizmos we don't discuss on this forum.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

Theo Sulphate said:
Consider the 135/2 AF-D DC Nikkor. You can focus it manually and the Defocus Control is excellent for controlling background or foreground bokeh while leaving the subject perfectly sharp.

I use it on my D700, but could just as easily use it on any F-mount Nikon.

Yes, this is one of the lenses I am considering because it should work on my older film Nikon bodies.

I plan on using this lens at f/2 and need high image quality at this f-stop. How is the image quality of your lens when shot wide open?

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

Richard S. (rich815) said:
That's a lot to pay for just one more stop of light, and also a lot heavier of a lens. Monopod or slightly faster film not a viable alternative?

The size and weight of the 135mm does not bother me. The 80-200mm I am using now is larger and heavier.

Right now, I am getting by using the lenses I have with fast film and with the lenses mounted on a monopod or a tripod. I am merely exploring the possibility of adding a fast prime lens that fits in the gap between my slower 105mm and 180mm lenses.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

karl said:
The image quality on the 105 and 135 f2 DC lenses is really amazing. You can often find them used for around $700. I miss the 105/2 DC I used to have. Great lens. They share the same lens barrel, which is not particularly bulky.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have added a used 135 f/2 AIS Nikon lens to my list to consider.

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

splash_fr said:
I really like my Samyang 135/2111

How is the image quality of your Samyang at f/2?

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

tom43 said:
I own The Zeiss 135 ApoSonnar. It is one of the best lenses you can buy for Money, no doubt. But together with the Nikon SLR cameras with AF it is hard to obtain perfect focus because of viewfinder limitations (e.g. With my D810, F6, F100, F80). In contrast it is usable with the FM3a. To be honest: For most films you will not see much difference between the mentioned lenses. Most Film types have not enough resolution. This might be different once you use high-res B/W film like Adox CMS 20 II....

How is the image quality of your Zeiss at f/2?

I have never owned or used a Zeiss lens. However, I have heard so much about the "magic" of the Zeiss images (especially the Sonnar images) that I have wanted to try one. In your opinion, is the "magic" worth the price premium?

narsuitus · Nov 29, 2015

Fixcinater said:
Have you considered the older 77mm Sigma 135/1.8? There were some others with 82mm filter threads, simpler lens construction.

No, I was not aware of the Sigma 135/1.8 lens. If it has good image quality wide open, I will consider it provided I can find one.

apoglass · Nov 29, 2015

The best optically is undoubtedly the Zeiss 135mm f/2 APO-Sonnar manual focus (which needs a proper focus screen perhaps assisted by a flip down 2x optical magnifier, optically magnified LCD with liveview such as the Zacuto Z-finder, or a magnified electronic viewfinder – if your focusing is to be accurate enough to make full use of all the sharpness that this incredible lens can deliver).

If you also want to be able to use the lens for Macro, the Cosina Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 125mm f/2.5 SL is also a superb choice, but somewhat hard to find and now only available used.

The Nikkor 135mm f/2.0D AF DC can produce gorgeous softer and lower contrast portraits but is a much more difficult lens to use because it has significant aberrations wide open so is much more difficult to focus (harder to tell when it is in focus), you have to have the knowledge and skill to set the defocus correction adjustment of its variable spherical aberration, and if not stopped down (unlike the apochromatic lenses) you may have lots of work trying to fix chromatic aberration in post-processing. If to be used for autofocus, you need a Nikon camera that has a focus motor in the body. If the manual/autofocus ring cracks, you face a difficult repair problem.

Christiaan Phleger · Nov 30, 2015

I place my opinion on the Ais 135/f2 which can be found for much less.

scepticswe · Nov 30, 2015

The Samyang is actually very close to the Zeiss in terms of image quality, as demonstrated here:
http://www.lenstip.com/442.1-Lens_review-Samyang_135_mm_f_2.0_ED_UMC_Introduction.html
I have it in Sony E-mount and wide open it produces images like these on my A7R

Samyang 135 f/2 meets Mira - b/w by scepticswe, on Flickr

Cherry by scepticswe, on Flickr

Flower pot by scepticswe, on Flickr

Rain splashed by scepticswe, on Flickr

As for CA, it does very well. I can't see any trace of it around the white petals in the last image (a typical scenario where one would encounter CA with a "lesser" lens)

135mm f/2 lens recommendation

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