This strange old lens is from the very dawn of the Canon EOS system in 1987. I was fascinated by it’s slide-zoom design, which was popular for zoom lenses in the manual focus days because both the focal length and focus can be controlled by one hand. While I love the 35mm focal length (though I often Peter 28mm) I’d forgotten how nice the 135mm focal length is.
Canon introduced the EOS system in 1987 with the EOS 650 and EOS 620. Fourteen lenses were listed in the catalogues: these are often referred to as the “launch” lenses.
Six were available immediately; the other eight were marked as “available soon” and included the EF 50 f1.0 and the EF 300 f2.8, both of which cemented EOS as a professional camera system. The more modest Canon EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5 is another lens listed as “available soon” and was released in June 1988.
Slide Zoom Control
To modern eyes the most unusual aspect of the EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5 is its zoom operation: the focal length is changed by sliding the barrel forward and backward, not rotating a ring. Before 1987 – before auto-focus – slide-action zooms were preferred because both the focal length and (manual) focus could be controlled with one hand simultaneously with a slide-and-twist movement. Only when auto focus became the norm did two-touch zoom design become preferred.
Canon announced or released six “slide” or “pump” zooms at launch: the EF 35-105 f3.5-4.5, the EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5, the EF 50-200 f3.5-4.5, the EF 70-210 f4, and two EF 100-300 f5.6 lenses – one consumer grade and one L-class lens. The other two zoom lenses announced or released at launch (the EF 35-70 f3.5-4.5 and the EF 28-70 f3.5-4.5) used a rotating ring for focal length control, which is common today. These were often referred to as “two touch” zooms.
Most of Canon’s launch lenses were optically improved versions of older manual focus FD designs. The EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5 however does not have an FD equivalent. This was a premium lens in it day and uses a complex 14 element design with a moulded glass aspheric.
It’s easy to waffle-on about technicalities about this lens, but instead I’ll write about it’s handling and the results it produces.
Handling
The lens is about 95mm long at the 35mm focal length and extends to about 120mm at the 135mm setting.
The slide zoom control takes a few minutes to get used to it (like a new pair of shoes) but really, zooms are mostly used at either the short end or the long end and only occasionally in the middle, so it matters not whether a ring gets turned or a barrel gets slid.
Like the majority of the launch lenses, the EF 35-135 F3.5-4.5 uses Canon’s original arc-form drive (AFD) motor for focussing which is audible <gasp!> unlike the USM used in later lenses, but the sound is not going to put the chicken off their lay or the cows off their milk. Focus is fast and accurate, nothing more to say.
The manual focusing ring is typical of AFD lenses: lacking the smooth viscosity of manual focus lenses, the movement as a dry, mechanical feel which is often described as gritty. (The feel of USM lenses is usually better but never as smooth as the earlier manual focus lenses.) The focus throw is surprisingly long – mostly at the macro end of the scale – however the AF was good enough that I never used MF. The close focussing distance is long-ish by todays standards but is good enough for tight head shots at the 135mm end.
Results
I took the EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5 into downtown Sydney Australia for a quick lens testing session or three over a couple of days. Many of these images are done with the lens wide open, f3.5 at 35mm and f4.5 at 135mm. Why test wide open? If the lens produces acceptably good results wide open, it will be even better a couple of stops closed down. Mission accomplished in my book.
All photographs are made with a Canon EOS 5D original, 1600 ISO, no lens filter and no lens hood. Final images are downsized from 12.8 MPx to 2.9 MPx (2100×1400). Most images are full frame not cropped, with light twiddling of curves, tonality and colour saturation in post processing using Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.10 software. Captions contain details of aperture and focal length.
The afternoon sun started streaming through the streets creating a beautiful strong highlights and shadows. Backlight is a really tough test for a lens’ flare handling, and I’m pleased to say that the EF 35-135mm f3.5-4.5 managed it extremely well.
Note that Canon’s DPP RAW editing software doesn’t have lens data for the EF 35-135 f3.5-4.5, so the images haven’t been corrected for chromatic aberration, distortion or peripheral illumination. Processing the RAW files in Lightroom and applying the corrections there may produce even better sharpness than you see here.
Conclusion
Is a 30+ year old original 1988 Canon EF 35-135mm f3.5-4.5 lens worth using? Judging by the image quality shown here, definitely. Does the lens have flaws? Yes. Are there better lenses? Yes. Is it good enough? YES!
If you can find one of these, grab it and use it. This appears to be quite a rare lens: I’ve read that only 1,000 were made and they were expensive in their day. Reviews are few, hopefully this will help to fill the void.
If you are looking for a an interesting lens this could be it. Built in the analog film photography days, this lens is producing excellent images on digital and will certainly produce excellent images on film. A “period appropriate” camera would be a first generation Canon EOS 650, 620, 630 (600) or for bonus points an EOS RT; this lens is compatible with all EOS film analog and digital cameras so put it on whatever you have a go out photographing and have some fun.
This lens was only in production for a short time before being replaced by the EF 35-135 f4.5-5.6 USM, which has the distinction of being Canon’s first lens with rear focussing. The successor to that lens was the EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM in 1998 which is Canon’s first non-L lens with image stabilisation.