This 135mm SF lens has a closest focusing distance of 1.3-m/4.3 ft (magnification of 0.12x) but it will be able to focus closer still when the soft focus function has been set. The first photo of the bunch of flowers (below, top left) was shot with the SF scale set at zero position and against a dark background. Compare it against the next two photos, which were photographed with the SF scale set to 1 and 2 respectively, you will see that the flowers in these softened shots are slightly bigger than the one without the SF effect. Flowers shot at zero SF setting Flowers shot at 1 SF setting     Flowers shot at 2 SF setting Again, as with the previous tests on Canon IS lenses, the resolutions of your PC or Macintosh monitors may not be able to distinguish between the effects of zero and soft focus scales here, and you may not be able to see the differences in softness for these photos above. Instead of soft focus effect, the subjects shot with the SF settings may look more like blurred photos to the eye. Nevertheless, in anticipation of that, I have a couple more sets of photos here and the next page, showing the varying amount of softness that can be achieved with this EF 135mm SF lens on different subjects and backgrounds. After testing the lens on the flowers, the next subject is this 1:10 scale of the BMW R 1100 R motorcycle against a black background. The first photo was shot with the SF scale set at the zero position while the other two were with the settings at 1 and 2 respectively. Due to the silver-metallic colors of the bike, you will be able to make out the SF differences against the black background here - giving a striking contrast and balance to the photos as well. Shot at zero SF Shot at 1 SF setting     Shot at 2 SF setting Now compare the above photos with these two, also of the same 1:10 scale bike but against a yellow background. If you see nothing more than out-of-focus photos instead from your respective PC or Macintosh monitors, the answer is that the SF function of the 135mm lens performs to expectations but the resolutions you see may not give you the exact descriptions. Shot at SF 1 setting Shot at SF 2 setting The yellow backgrounds of the two photos above have absorbed most of the softness effects from the edges of the bike, and this gives an impression that the overall shots look more like an out-of-focus rendition instead. << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .