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Canon EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
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Peter Kun Frary
Introduced in late 1997, the EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM was an amazing feat of engineering for its day: wide zoom range, silent and fast AF and Image Stabilization (IS).
4th of July • EOS 10D & EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM • F11 & 15 seconds
Construction
It's larger and heavier than the EF 28-105 3.5-4.5 USM, tipping the scales at 540 g (18.9 oz). The faint of heart may find it too large for travel and hiking. The twist zoom action is slightly smoother than the 28-105 but, unfortunately, is prone to creep when pointed down. Surprisingly, it doesn't creep when racked out to 135 and pointed straight up. Zooming is accomplished by expanding and contracting the nested barrels. Like most AF lenses, the manual focus ring is small and not as silky or fine turning as the manual lenses of yesteryear.
Canon EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
It sports a ring-type USM (Ultrasonic Motor) that drives an internal lens group and, thus, AF rips, but is slightly slower than the EF 28-105 USM. The front element does not rotate and the barrel does not expand or contract during focusing. However, the barrel extends considerably when zooming to 135 mm. Of course, being an USM lens, it is silent when focusing. It has FTM, allowing you to manually focus without switching out of AF mode. If you prefocus manually, the distance window in meters and feet is extremely useful.
The filter size is 72 mm, making filters expensive. Mostly L lenses have this filter size: EF 35 1.4L, EF 50 1.0L, EF 135 2L, EF 200 2.8L and EF 35-350 3.5-5.6L. The instructions say not to stack filters, probably to avoid vignetting at 28mm. However, two thin filters will not vignette, even at 28mm. The instructions also state that you cannot use a polarizing filter when the lens hood is attached. However, if you have agile fingers it isn't difficult to rotate the filter through the petal cutouts of the lens hood.
Waikiki • EOS 10D & EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
Optical Quality
For a consumer zoom, it is sharp and contrasty, slightly sharper than the EF 28-105 3.5-4.5 USM. Although quality is decent wide open, the best image quality is at F8 or 11. It also suffers from a small amount of barrel distortion at the wide end and pincushion distortion at the long end. However, I haven't noticed much distortion except in macro mode, where barrel distortion at 28 mm is slightly more pronounced than the EF 28-105 3.5-4.5 USM. The long end is slightly softer than the wide angle side, but still good enough for excellent 11 x 14 inch enlargements.
Latourell Falls OR • EOS Elan 7E, EF 28-135 IS USM, Hoya Polarizing Filter Velbon 343E Tripod & Portra 400UC
In terms of flare and ghosting, this is the weakest of Canon's "normal" zooms and not the best choice for sunsets. In other words, flare and ghosting will probably occur if you shoot bright sunsets or other strong light sources. Perhaps the extra elements used for IS contribute to flare and ghosting (more elements = more reflective surfaces). I always keep the lens shade on to help keep flare in check.
There is one gotcha with this lens: the nested three-barrel design has lots of cracks to suck in dust. All lenses that expand and contract during zooming are subject to this problem. However, I have more particles on the inside of this lens than any zoom I have owned.
Image Stabilization
This would be a very nice lens without Image Stabilization (IS). However, IS really sets the performance and use of this lens apart from previous normal zooms. Small gyro sensors coupled to a CPU detect the degree and direction of camera shake and counteract this vibration by moving a compensating optical group. Subsequently, I almost always get a sharp picture, even two or three stops below my normal hand held shutter speed.
IS changed the way I take pictures. I used to put away my camera when conditions got dark and murky, now I keep on shooting (I avoid flash except for fill). However, IS is not just for low light conditions, it helps eminently in any high vibration situation such as shooting in high wind, airplanes, automobiles or boats. Heck, I've shot one-handed while hanging off a cable car in San Francisco and nailed a sharp picture. For years this was my favorite ready-for-anything travel lens. The image below was hand held in dim light with slow slide film (1/2 second at F3.5):
Honolulu Harbor • EOS A2, EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM & Fujichrome 100F
The instructions recommend turning IS off when using a tripod as the lack of movement may cause IS to be erratic. However, IS is extremely useful in conjunction with a tripod as long as there is some vibration. For example, when windy, I use Image Stabilization with a tripod mounted camera and it makes a major improvement in sharpness.
Nevertheless, this early IS implementation--amazing in 1997--is showing its age over a decade later. Newer designs sport panning mode and another stop of effective IS.
Anna at Kewalo Basin Park • EOS 10D & EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM
Last Words
This is a wonderful lens for film EOS and full-frame DSLRs such as the 5D/5D2. With a 28 mm short end, it may not be wide enough as a normal zoom for small frame cameras such as the 40D/50D/60D. Why? The 1.6x cropping factor of these cameras yield an approximate 45-200 35mm equivalent zoom range. I find it odd that Canon used this as a kit lens for the XXD series. However, if you prefer a normal to medium telephoto range on a small frame digital, this may be the lens for you. I found it an ideal "walkaround" range on my 10D and 20D. It isn't well suited for pro EOS cameras like the EOS 1V or EOS 3 as the variable aperture of F3.5 to 5.6 is too slow to activate their cross AF sensors.
Here are more sample images taken with the EF 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS USM:
6/11/2001 • Revised 10/17/2011
©Copyright 2001-2012 by Peter Kun Frary • All Rights Reserved .
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