I agree that those available light photos on the previous page are not that great, especially when this lens, sporting a maximum aperture of f/2.0, is capable of delivering top-notch examples of stop-the-action shots rather than almost-stationary subjects. It was also a coincidence that when I decided to test this lens out, the launch of the Colors of Malaysia festival was just a few days away. What better way than to test out the EF 135mm f/2.0L USM lens on this colorful event. I brought along both ISO 100 and 400 color reversal films for the said event but most of the pictures were shot in the former emulsion instead, including those featured on this page except for the last two. The maximum aperture of the 135mm lens had allowed me to shoot at a higher shutter speed (1/125 sec) that was good enough to freeze some of the action and avoiding camera shake as the tungsten-balanced spotlights used for the launching ceremony were bright enough for the purpose. Waiters doing their stunts One of the costumed performers     Male performers in their costumes Another female performer You can say I got a good position for that night to the extent that the camera angle was too tight even for the 135mm focal length, as shown from the four photos above. Of course, I have wider lenses to cover the event but since this issue is solely on the 135mm lens, I want to ensure that I have enough shots that can be used for this article. The above were all shot via available light, with the overall tungsten cast adding realism to the photos as opposed to the effect captured using fill-in TTL flash illuminations in these photos shown below. Fill-in flash in Tv mode Another fill-in flash     Slow-sync flash Fill-in flash in Av mode (f/2.0) Overall, I will say that the Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM telephoto lens did perform to expectations and it will make a good choice for those preferring to use single focal length lenses. If you like single focal length lenses and have the budget to invest in L-series optics, an excellent combination will be to have both the EF 35mm f/1.4L USM wide-angle and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM telephoto. This is because both of these lenses use the 72mm filter threads and you can exchange the accessories with the EF 135mm f/2.0L USM lens. Text and photos by Philip Chong. Copyright 2000 by Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 .