Is Nikon 135mm f1.8 plena good for street photography? a Hands on review
I always used either wide or ultra wide lenses and the highest focal length I ever tried was 50mm on Fujifilm cropped sensor. Going to my favorite spot in SoCal (Laguna Beach), I sometimes see the opportunity to have a lens with longer focal length so get photos of subject far from me. After getting Nikon Zf, I tried 85mm F2.8 for a short time which wasn’t really satisfying for my use case. But then I saw Plena, and I thought this can be the one I am looking for to add to my collection!
Nikon 135mm f1.8 S Plena
It is truly one of the best lenses I have ever tried!
First Impression
I got it as second hand lens from Amazon, and I was happy to see it is in great shape with no damage on it. Taking it out of box, it is clear from first glance that Plena is a top quality lens and what I heard about its build quality is all true! Plena is already a big lens, and putting lens hood on it, makes it even bigger! When mounted on my Nikon Zf body, the whole package looks funny! small camera body hanging onto a big lens, trying to keep up! Weight distribution across the lens has done perfectly so you would not feel it is falling ahead when holding in hand along with Nikon Zf. The extra button on lens allows me to map it to one of camera functions. Focus ring is also smooth and pleasing to work with.
Using Nikkor 135mm Plena
I first tried this lens in Noguchi Garden and OCMA in Costa Mesa. When walking with this large lens around, I feel like everyone is looking at me! I don’t have that feeling of invisibility when walking around with a small 27mm or 35mm prime lens on Fujifilm or 40mm on Nikon Zf anymore! I have kind of exposed feeling, not that someone going to steal it, but the feeling I am making others uncomfortable! I also might be so wrong as well! During the time I had this lens and trying it out in public, no one really got close to me to complain!
In fact, when I was trying another big lens, I had 2 people asking me more about it and what photos I took. One even took the time to go through photos I took and then talked about his own experience! This made me feel more at ease when carrying a bigger lens with me.
I can photograph subjects with beautiful bokeh and lots of detail without getting close, which is great for distant objects. Still, I’m more comfortable with wider lenses, so focusing on faraway subjects feels challenging.
Going to Laguna Beach, it is all foggy around, and can be helpful with testing this lens capabilities in challenging lighting like a foggy weather.
Again Nikon 135mm f1.8 Plena performs great, and I still feel like it is a totally new approach which I need to get more comfortable with. The output is fabulous and gives me a fresh new look into street photography. Bokeh is nice and photo compression is just great! I’m happy that Nikon Zf uses similar focusing system as Nikon Z9, which helps a lot with focusing in such lighting situation.
I spent the night in Newport Beach walking by the beach and near Newport pier. Having people around, the fog and spot lights here and there makes things interesting. I did edits on photos, but they are mostly minimal edits and overall, the output is so good that I don’t have to spend lots of time to get my desirable results.
Verdict
I admit I never had a prime lens with such focal length for street photography and Nikon 135mm Plena gave me a new and unique view, and challenged me on how to view my surroundings and maybe seeing photo subjects from a new angle and distance. I absolutely loved its build quality and photo results, which needed minimum amount of effort to get the results I want.
On the other hand, there been times that it limited me in usage. it is a large and heavy lens, and when mounted on Nikon Zf (which already has a poor handling and grip), makes the pair not so comfortable to use (specially if you wanted to carry it around for a long time). having a great camera strap which to have it hanging on your shoulder and use it when needed might make things a bit easier (PeakDesign straps are highly recommended).
It is already an expensive lens, and since it needs larger size filters, it would add to the costs to get filters for this lens. But in the end, I loved Plena and I would most likely own this lens again when I had the budget. If you are ok with the costs, I highly recommend this lens to use for portrait, or if you want a challenge for other types of photography that you do. Nikon 135mm F1.8 Plena is a gem!
