More Nikon glass

The official name of my latest lens is “Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S Micro-Nikkor“. It’s what Nikon calls a micro lens, but every other manufacturer calls a macro lens. It’s designed to focus very close. It’s not a microscope, but can focus down to an inch from the glass. 

The old Nikon Coolpix 950 and 990 had great close-up ability, and I missed that feature. That’s one reason I got this lens. But if that was the only thing the lens was good for, I wouldn’t have gotten it. It works well as a general lens too. It’s a good “portrait” lens — good for taking pictures of people.

I’m very pleased. This lens is sharp — sharper than any other lens I’ve ever owned. Almost too sharp sometimes. It’s easy to take unflattering pictures with this lens. (I’m not including any examples because the subjects would kill me.)

In fact I was warned about the sharpness when I bought it. The guy in the camera shop raised his eyebrows when I asked for it. Then, when he had fetched one from the back, he put it on the counter and said, “Now you know, this lens is sharp. It brings out every detail, and that includes the flaws.”

I can see how this lens might not work well for someone that is working with models and wants an air-brushed look, but I really like the sharpness, even if it does reveal flaws. But that’s easy to say when you’re not the one in front of the camera…

The only complaint I have is that it the auto-focus is prone to “miss”. It’ll be really close to getting it right, but then decide that it’s way off and then run through the entire focus range. And, because this lens has such a wide focus range, that takes time, and I sometimes miss the shot I want.

On the other hand, this lens really is designed to focus manually – just look at how wide the focus ring is. For macro shots, focusing manually may be best, but for catching just the right expression on someones face, you really need the auto-focus, and this lens is much more touchy about focusing than my others.