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Cons: As others mentioned it does fringe but if you know what you’re doing it’s not a big issue

Pros: Best portrait lens ever

Summary: My go to lens for portraits and my 6 year old’s soccer games

Cons: colors fringes, color fringes, colors fringes!!!!! AF screw-driven useless in AF-C and not accurate under dim light, contrast not up to last generation lenses, could be sharper at f2

Pros: sharp, DC control is a nice feature, very low vignetting and virtually no distortion, bokeh is excellent, built quality is almost perfect, pretty fast AF

Summary: for the use it is intended it is a very nice tool. however it's a pricey one for an old conception lens. so unless you're a pure portraitist it's such an investment and you'll use it 20% of the time, maximum...

Cons: Fringes like crazy when shooting a backlight scene. AF will seem slow compared to more modern lenses. It's fairly sharp, but when shooting people the last thing you want is an overly sharp lens. The 135DC splits the difference in a very intelligent way--you can get it sharper by stopping down, but you'll spend more time retouching.

Pros: It brings out the inherent beauty in people. This lens was designed specifically for portraits and it does an amazing job with people's faces. Especially when shot between f/2 and f/4 people get a heroic handsomeness to them that is inspiring to behold.

Summary: This is a polarizing lens—either you love what it does for your portraits or you hate it. It helps me capture the inner beauty of people who others might consider ugly. Edward Steichen would have loved it.

Cons: Heavy purple fringes around bright spots at full aperture Problematic AF when "defocus controled" Mine goes a bit cling clong inside but maybe it's my copy (no effect on optical quality)

Pros: Sharp as the devil's fork at 4 Bokeh deep and creamy like no other lens

Summary: With its focal length, aperture and unique defocus control feature, this is arguably the best portrait lens ever, regardless the brand, but you can do many more with it. Once closed a bit, it resolves even the corners of the D800's sensor, so you can see very fine architecture or nature details. Its aperture allows low-light shots, it's suitable for museums, indoor sports, concerts... However, when you use the DC, it may confuse the autofocus, so you'd better switch to manual. Also don't shoot bright subjects such as chromes at full aperture, because of a HUGE purple fringing.

Cons: Dated, heavy, slowish AF and 90's mechanics.

Pros: Nice colour, Nice feel (apart from the plastic AF selector), Manual aperture, inbuilt hood, very nice bokeh.

Summary: I second the comments of William. There is a lot of wide eyed mythology out there with this lens but at the end of the day it is not the jesus lens that many think it is. Its good but on pure performance other modern portrait lenses have better control of CA's (which this lens has in abundance) are better made and handle better. The Defocus Control seems to be a bit of a gimmick. Maybe its me but i could never really see significant improvement when using it. I think better options are out there is you want a dedicated portrait lens for full frame: the Nikon 85 AFS 1.4 G (or the manual AIS if you are lucky) or the Canon 135 f2 L all out perform the nikon 135DC in my view. But of course its up to the individual. Its just a tool after all and as long as you are aware of its limitations its strengths shine through.

Cons: Optical quality lacking. Wide open it's soft and experiences chromatic aberration (mostly green). The defocusing control is somewhat useless, its contribution is very limited. If you misuse the DC you'll experience a glowing/soft/dreamy look that was popular in the 1980's, but it has no place in today's world. If you *do* use the DC correctly, it contributes very little to the scene. See an overview of the DC function here: http://tinyurl.com/2c6frhq -- background and foreground blur is not really enhanced with the DC control.

Pros: Overall IQ is excellent. If you can forgive a little softness wide open (or correct it with sharpening in Photoshop later), or if you stop the lens down to f/2.8 or further, it's great. The focal length is fun, and the subject really pops when shot wide open -- especially on full-frame. It's a really fun lens to use. Stopped down in a studio environment it's phenomenal. Highly recommended for studio work. The aperture ring also lets you use the lens on older film cameras.

Summary: Fun lens to use, IQ could be better wide open. I'm curious if there will be a replacement from Nikon in the near future since this is quite old in technology years.