Nikon AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED Lens

I've owned this lens for about six months now, and I can say with full confidence that it is one of the sharpest lenses in the Nikon lineup. I use it mostly for macro photography as well as portraiture, and for those purposes it's perfect. Images are crisp, distortion-free, clean, and accurately cast. Even when shooting wide open at f/2.8 there is little softness or vignetting present. Comparing shots wide open with shots stopped down, even at 100% crops, shows little difference in clarity, contrast, and sharpness, from corner to corner. I'm really impressed with how well this lens performs at its widest aperture.This lens is pretty much the do-it-all kind of device. You can shoot macro...you can definitely use it for portraiture (it's almost the ideal focal length for portraits). You can even use it for landscapes, if you want to isolate a subject from its background.The bokeh this lens produces is clean and well-defined. The subject leaps out of a soft, creamy background, especially at wider apertures.This lens uses the 62mm filter size...I strongly recommend getting a clear or UV filter to keep on the front of the lens at all times to protect the front lens element. A UV or clear filter will help prevent dust and debris from settling on or inside the front of the lens, and will also help protect it in case you bump into something.The lens comes with the HB-38 lens hood, a sizable hood which further aids in protection of the front of the lens.Vibration Reduction works well...it affords the photographer the ability to get shots indoors in low light that would otherwise require a flash or higher ISO. I can routinely get crisp, clear shots with no motion blur at shutter speeds of around 1/15 second...something I cannot do with other lenses that don't have VR.It's not a heavy lens, nor is it especially light. You can easily carry this lens around on your shoulder all day without a problem. It doesn't quite have the strong, tank-like feel of other Nikon pro lenses (I would not feel comfortable dropping this lens onto a hard surface); it doesn't feel like the body is made of metal as much as it is composite plastic...which is ok, since it keeps the weight down. Considering the lens has a reach of 105mm at f/2.8, I think the weight of the lens is very acceptable.I've never experience any issues with lens flare or ghosting, and I've used it a great deal in sunlight.Personally, I think this lens is worth every penny of it's sales price. It's not an inexpensive lens, but considering how well-rounded it is and how well it performs, the price is very fair and reasonable.I'd recommend the 105mm Micro-Nikkor to anyone who's looking for an excellent performing macro or portrait lens.

This lens is extremely sharp. At f2.8 it currently has the highest DxO Mark rating of any tested lens on any camera body.Autofocus is surprisingly fast and effective for a macro lens, even at 1:1 magnification. Other macro lenses that I have used required manual focus at high levels of magnification, but I can shoot faster and more accurately with this lens using autofocus. So instead of taking 100 manually-focused shots while swaying back-and-forth in hopes of getting one in-focus picture, I can take a handful of braced auto-focused shots and be sure to end up with some good in-focus pictures. VR is also effective at close distances, which allows me to shoot close-up at lower shutter speeds (and lower ISOs).Another strength of this lens is its balance between working distance and depth-of-field. This lens provides 1:1 magnification at its minimum focus distance of 12 inches. 12 inches is a sufficient working distance to use a ring flash or the Nikon R1C1 wireless close-up speedlight system. It's also sufficient distance to bounce a regular speedlight onto your tiny subject in a pinch, either on-camera or off-camera. This lens also has an impressive f32 minimum aperture, which helps mitigate the shallow depth-of-field at the minimum focus distance. At f32, this lens provides a 0.42 inch DOF at its minimum focus distance of 12 inches. (BTW, you'll need some good lighting to work at f32 and diffraction limits sharpness.) By comparison, the Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro has an f22 minimum aperture, which only provides a 0.21 inch DOF at its minimum focus distance of 15 inches. The Tamron 180mm f3.5 macro also has an f32 minimum aperture, but only provides a 0.32 inch DOF at its minimum focus distance of 18.5 inches. The Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro achieves 1:1 magnification with a 0.49in DOF, but it's not as sharp and its minimum focus distance of 7.3 inches is too close for my taste. So among all F-mount macro lenses, this Nikon macro lens strikes the best balance between a viable minimum focus distance and a relatively large depth-of-field at that distance.You can also use this lens for portraits, although other lenses like the Nikon 135mm DC, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII, and Nikon 200mm f2.0 VR will be better for that.If you want to take tripod-mounted studio close-ups at 1:2 magnification or less, then I'd recommend a tilt-shift lens like the Nikon 85mm f2.8 PC-E instead because you can work around the narrow DOF by reorienting the focal plane.