Nikon 105MM AF-S VR 105 f/2.8G IF-ED Micro Nikkor Lens

Macro lenses tend to be put in the "Special-purpose lenses that I won't need because I don't do that specific type of photography" category without much thought, but this is a big mistake because if anything, the macro functionality seems like more of an useful addition to an already-great telephoto lens. Let me explain:

Build:

The 105mm VR lens is solid. It's one of Nikon's best built lenses. From front to back it is solid metal. The focus ring is wonderfully fluid, and yet has a damped enough feeling to know it will resist even the most penetrating of dust and moisture. The focus index is useless, don't use it. When you're doing macro work all those equations go out the window any way. At the rear of the lens, it is rubber lined so that when you mount it on a camera it creates another seal. Looking at it closely, the seal is strong but don't rely on it to hold up against everything. The lens hood is plastic, and about the length of the lens itself. I never use it, reason being that it doubles the length of the lens, and your effective working distance is that much shorter before you scare away bugs and insects, just use your hand to remove stray light if you really need to. All focusing is done internally so that the lens never extends when focusing, and the SWM motor means that it hardly makes a sound, good for not scaring little critters.

Optics:

It's no secret to say that Macro lenses have some of the clearest, sharpest, most precise optics around. In fact, there is basically no fault with this lens, optically. You will find that due to it's flat-focusing nature, in-focus objects are sharp across the entireframe, even at wide-open apertures like F/2.8 Speaking of which, this lens will only ever be F/2.8 at infinity focus, as you get closer, and eventually up to 1:1 focus, the minimum aperture increases past F/2.8 This is no mistake, and no fault with your lens, it's a simple optical trick that all (yes, all) macro lenses need to do in order to do what they do. You won't get flare with this lens, and ghost are very well controlled until you are shooting directly into a large light source, in which case the smallest amount will come in to play. The front element is smaller than the filter diameter, which means that even filters with a very large, thick ring will not cause you any vignetting. Speaking of which, even at F/2.8 vignetting is not a problem at all on DX and very slight on FX. This is normal.

Features/Performance:

This lens, according to the manual features VR II technology, although the VR icon on the lens barrel is red, and not gold as the new VR II lens models have. I don't know or care which it is, because it works perfectly. There are a lot of reviews saying that VR is 'nearly useless when doing close macro stuff' and to 'turn it off to save battery'. I'll admit the VR isn't as effective as when used at infinity focus, but it still works very well at 1:1 and really can make the difference, I assure you. Don't be put off. As for the battery-draining, a close friend of mine says that the VR on this lens eats his D200's battery alive, and he can literally see the bars going disappearing with use. On my D3s, it is not a problem, it hardly has any impact on the battery level at all, and I can comfortably use it all day long on a full charge, and have plenty for the next day.

Autofocus speed is good, but it's hardly stellar. This is not a fault with your lens, all (yes, all) macro lenses have quite poor (in comparison to $4000 zoom lenses) focusing due to the extreme range in which they have to work. This will often lead to 'hunting' which is where the lens struggles to find the focus point and moves back and forth between near and far. Fortunately, the lens does have a focus lock but this won't help you in macro as it locks way past where macro really begins. What will help you, however, is that the lens has a full-time manual focus override on that beautifully large focus ring, meaning that you can have the last say, every time. It works without failure, and it's a useful feature.

Moving away from macro, this lens can be used as a stunning prime-telephoto lens for portrait work. The bokeh is nice, but not as good as an 85mm 1.8 lens, against a plain background however it is much sharper and with less distortion, and obviously VR helps in every situation.

I hope this helps

I originally bought this lens strictly for macro use, and for this it is extremely competent. It is just so sharp, and autofocus works well, even when in macro mode. If you are not using a tripod, then the VR function is a very great assistance even when shooting macro shots. This makes ad-hoc macro photography a possibility where having to unpack a tripod would be bothersome.

It didn't take me long though, to appreciate the fantastic potential this lens has for portraiture. The 105mm focal length and f2.8 maximum aperture are very useful for portraiture, and out-of-focus areas are rendered very softly with an attractive bokeh, approaching what you'll get from the masters of bokeh - the 70-200mm f2.8 VR and 85mm f1.4. In addition to this, in-focus areas are tack-sharp, though if you do want to soften the shot, or reasons of flattery, this can of course be done in post very easily. This ability effectively doubles the usefulness of this lens, and makes it one of the top performers in the Nikon range. I would put it in the top 5 most competent lenses along with the 14-24mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8 VR and 50mm f1.4 - some might insist the 85mm f1.4 be included, but I'd put this at no.6 because it's such a specialist item.

I have also used this lens for landscape photography. Its sharpness lends it well to this application, as long as you can achieve the crop you want with its fixed focal length. Yet another, if minor, string to its bow. It is, of course, fully corrected for FX, so you can use it with your D700, D3, or D3X with confidence.

The one negative point, and reason for only giving 4 stars, is that when shooting at the macro end of its range, adjusting focus also increases and decreases the size of the image in the frame - often quite significantly. This makes achieving a precise crop in frame at exact focus more difficult than it need otherwise be, and may prove irritating if you are a full time macro photographer. For me though, it's a worthwhile compromise for the very positive features of the lens, so I can strongly recommend it.

This is simply the best lens that I have and I do have good fast glass... excellent bokeh and colour rendition, headshots with this one are really tack sharp and the macro is stunning (provided that you have good light). The only lens that might be better for headshots than this one is the 85mm f/1.4 (which is in my list but no funds for it yet), but this one is definitely an outstanding piece of engineering.

If you are serious about photography and use Nikon, this lens should be on your kit. It has replaced the 24-70 as the "always on" lens on my D300.