Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens

by Geoff 12 Sep 0 Comments

Canon EF 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens

The Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens is a cheaper variable aperture lens for standard zoom usage.

It is compact and light weight with the built in Image Stabilizer. At the wide angle end of the zoom range, the equivalent shutter speed gain is approximately 1.5 stops and at the telephoto end, it is approximately 2 stops.

The internal focusing mechanism of this lens allows the front of the lens to remain stationary making it better to use filters such as polarising filters.

Since this lens covers the very wide focal length range of 28 to 135mm I regard this lens as an excellent choice for a travelling lens, being light and compact.

Consider that this lens has a largest aperture of f/3.5 at 28mm and f/5.6 at 135mm, so it may not be the best choice for low light photography or action subjects. Although for still subjects the image stabilisation with this lens will help to give sharper images by reducing the camera shake.

I would prefer a lens with a larger aperture and there are two main reasons for this. I shoot moving subjects quite a lot and consequently this will not be the best lens for that. Also with telephoto lenses, particularly at around 135mm focal length I prefer to use lower apertures, to help control the depth of field. I find that I can obtain far more creative images by using larger apertures to give a narrower depth of field to help focus the attention on the main subject matter. If you shoot events or shows in low lighting I would stay away from this lens.

Choosing the best lenses for your photography can be a complex task and you need to consider the many different conditions you will be photographing in, some of which I have summarised below.

Existing light levels, f/5.6 is not good in low light.
Primes or zooms, choose for convenience.
Largest apertures of your lenses, f/1.4. f/2.8 or f/5.6 for selective focus.
What you prefer for convenience, if you choose primes you will be changing lenses frequently.

See the sample images from this lens on the Flickr site.