Although photographers have traditionally used 135mm lenses for portraiture, British photographer Terry Donnelly uses his Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 G Master for much more. “It’s a fantastic lens for portraiture, but it is equally great for sport, wildlife, and documentary style photography,” says Terry.

As part of Sony’s class-leading G Master series of lenses, the FE 135mm f/1.8 prime lens offers exceptional sharpness and an f/1.8 aperture that allows it to create images that look different to those shot on other lenses.

Shooting commercially, Terry can find himself shooting everything and anything, and he uses Sony Alpha cameras that match the demanding needs of a professional photographer. Usually, Terry shoots with an Alpha 1 or Alpha 9 II. More recently, he has been one of the first to use the groundbreaking Alpha 7R V, with its AI autofocus technology.

Go back just a decade and shooting a portrait or sports image with a 135mm lens set to f/1.8 wasn’t easy. To get an eye pin sharp, photographers would rely on shifting slightly back and forth whilst burst shooting, then eventually picking the image where the eye was the sharpest. “It’s a different experience now,” says Terry. “These days we can rely on the G Master lens and Eye AF technology. The benefit is that now I can put my resources into the photographic side of things like communicating with my subject and composing the shot without being sidetracked by whether the eye will be sharp in the final image.”

In Terry’s words, the 135mm f/1.8 G Master lens is one that “demands to be used with the aperture wide open. The shallow depth of field created at f/1.8,” he continues, “combined with the look of the background bokeh, produces silky smooth backgrounds and specular highlights that are perfectly circular. The way it renders the backgrounds so smoothly compared to the pin-sharp foreground gives photos a fantastic cinematic look. It’s a special focal length where the foreground and background work in harmony together.”

Creating the beautiful bokeh is a series of XA (Extra Aspherical) and Super ED glass lenses with Nano AR (Anti Reflective) coatings which keep images sharp, free from aberrations, fringing and other distortions right across the frame. “The lens is sharp edge to edge, corner to corner. I nearly always shoot wide open, and I’ve never had any issues with image quality,” explains Terry.

Showing the lens’ versatility, Terry also uses it to photograph one of his passions – Red Squirrels. The species is endangered in the UK, but Terry is fortunate to have the creatures in his garden.

“The lens‘ focal length and the shallow field depth from the f/1.8 aperture allow me to blur out the background. If a fence or a neighbour’s house creeps into the shot, I don’t have to worry about it because the squirrels can be perfectly sharp, but the background is so smooth that potential distractions are not visible,” he explains.

One interesting trick Terry has with the lens is using the Custom Function buttons on the side of the lens to switch his settings. “I can shoot something fast, such as football, and have the camera set up to freeze action. If I want to get creative and show a little motion blur,” he continues, “I can use the function button on the lens to switch to one of my preset Custom modes. I don’t need to go into a menu or even take my eye away from the viewfinder.”

But out of all the images that Terry has taken with the 135mm image, it is a reportage portrait shot that stands out as being the most significant.

“I took an image of helicopter Pilot who works for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance. The shot is in an otherwise mundane setting, but I was able to create a cinematic picture that had a reflection of the aircraft in the pilot’s visor. I could blur the background completely and still get a pin-sharp image of his helicopter reflected image in his helmet visor.”

“His reaction to seeing the image for the first time will always stay with me. Pilots are normally so engaged in their activities that they seldom get to see what they look like to others, particularly what they look like through a 135mm G Master lens.”

“It’s about enhancing the perception of an everyday task for those involved,” he concludes, “and transforming that perception into a beautiful image they will enjoy forever.”