The True King of Bokeh – the Minolta/Sony 135mm f/2.8 Smooth Transition Focus (T/4.5)

When I first heard about this lens, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It’s a long 135mm portrait prime with not a particularly large aperture (f/2.8), even lower light transmission (T4.5), and manual focus selling for $1400. Yikes. No wonder I haven’t heard about this lens. It must be an overpriced dud. Or is it?

A picture of my Zeiss taken with a Sony/Minolta 135mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO 12,800. Just look at that creamy bokeh! No additional blurring in post.

What really caught my attention was its image quality. Expectedly, the lens is razor sharp since it’s a portrait prime. Unexpectedly, the lens is absolutely bokeh-licious. I mean, just look at the shot above taken at ISO 12,800. This lens produces the coveted creamy bokeh we talked about last week and that high-end modern lenses strive for. However, it was introduced way back in 1999 by Minolta, before Sony bought the company, and it is still in Sony’s lens lineup today alongside another heavy-hitter, the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8.

This unassuming lens, though it looks like it’s made out of the same crinkly plastic we are used to from Canon or Nikon, is actually entirely metal. It feels as solid as a cannon ball.

This exotic twin-apertured lens is the Sony/Minolta 135mm f/2.8 STF (T/4.5). It has some sort of cult status, inspiring fans to spawn dedicated websites. My favorite lens testing site, the meticulously German Photozone.de, also gave this lens 4.5 stars out of 5 in Optical Quality, Mechanical Quality, and Price/Performance categories, earning it the rare “Highly Recommended Green Thumb’s Up“. This is the best portrait lens you’ve never heard of. Just what makes this lens the True King of Bokeh?