Weekend Rental: Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro (Macro) Lens

[Scottwdw]

To go with my blog's assignment this month on Close Up Photography, I rented the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens for this weekend from our friends at LensRentals.com. ; Nikon calls their macro lenses, micros.

The lens balances very well on my Nikon D700. ; The 105mm is extremely fast focusing and a beautiful piece of glass. ; It does have one quirk. ; As it focuses closer down to 1:1, it "breaths" which means the image in the viewfinder jumps in size suddenly. ; At first I thought I had a broken lens but a little web research confirmed this is normal. ; I got used to it. ; Research also confirmed, as you focus in close, the VR becomes less effective. ; The f/2.8 is for when the lens is used for portraits and distance shooting. ; At the marco level, it is more a f/4 lens. ;

Upon learning all this, I used two techniques today in a studio setting. The first was to use a tripod, cable release, delayed shutter, and LiveView to check focus. The second was to not use a tripod and use off-camera flash and shot at 1/125s and 1/250s sync shutter speeds. ; Both worked very well.

First a reference shot.

1/4s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0

Tic-Tacs

1/125s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0, flash

POTC Pocket Watch

1/125s, f/16, ISO 200, EV +0.3, flash at -2 power

LED Flash light

1/125s, f/8, ISO 200, EV 0

Exercise partner

1/125s, f/16, ISO 2800, EV 0

Makes a darn good mid-range telephoto, too.

1/125s, f/8, ISO 400, EV 0

 

[HW]

looks to be a very sharp lens. ; slr gear gives it a good write up too.

is that pocket watch the one you got from your jersey visit a few years back Scott ?

 

[Scottwdw]

Yes it is. ;

 

[gary]

aaaaargh

 

[jbwolffiv]

Stupid question, what is the background in the penny shot

 

[Scottwdw]

Stupid question, what is the background in the penny shot

Nah, no such thing as a stupid question. it's a tablecloth thrown over a small box so I could prop up the penny.

 

[jbwolffiv]

Thanks, it almost looks like something plastic to me.

 

[dishippy]

I was actually thinking about the 105mm f/2.0 prime as a next lens purchase. I like these shots. The focal length looks nice and the sharpness is classic prime goodness!

 

[mSummers]

Nice work Scott!

As a side note, Nikon is actually technically correct on their lens names even though it is a little confusing since everyone else uses the term Macro for the same range. ; Nikon calls any lens that goes down to 1:1 but is able to focus to infinity a "Micro" lens and call their lenses that make images larger than life size a "Macro" lens. ; They actually made a set of 4 lenses aimed mainly at scientific use that had a combined range of 1:1 to 40:1

 

[Scottwdw]

Here are some photos from the field test today at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo here in Syracuse. ; Used a monopod to help in keeping the camera steady. ; All these photos were taken through glass.

Our favorite clown fish.

1/100s, f/4.5, ISO 2800, EV +0.3

Pumpkinseed Sunfish. A big one.

1/40s, f/3, ISO 3200, EV +0.3

Dinosaurs really never left. A Prehensile-tailed Skink.

1/60s, f/3.2, ISO 3200, EV +0.3

Mojave Black-collared Lizard.

1/60s, f/3.2, ISO 3200, EV +0.3

Ocelot

1/10s, f/2.8, ISO 3200, EV +0.3

Cropped version of the photo above

 

[RocketTom]

I *love* that 105 micro lens. I first got to use one last year when a friend of mine (fully entrenched in the NAS) let me use it at the San Diego Wild Animal Park "Butterfly Jungle". It was hard to believe but I found that if you were very close to your subject, the depth of field was less than the space between a butterfly's eyes.

http://TCCPhotography.zenfolio.com/p461315894/e270ff102

With the DOF so narrow, and with an incredible fall off, I had to be really careful. At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on, thinking my camera was out of alignment, but it was just the bokeh from that dramatic fall off.

http://TCCPhotography.zenfolio.com/p461315894/ef653615

If anyone is in the Southern California area, I'd encourage you to go to this exhibit. It's *very* popular with photographers, and you can easily stand around for hours just snapping pictures of these insects. And there's also the whole park to visit while you're at it. And since this event is in the spring, the animals are, well, rather "spring-ish" (if you get my meaning...)

[About half the shots of the butterflies was with my 70-200 to use some other styles. You can tell, since that lens WAS out of alignment...]

 

[Scottwdw]

Those are excellent examples on how to use this lens out in the field, Tom. ; Oh, to have this lens at Epcot's butterfly house during the Flower and Garden Festival.

Here are a few more photos taken with this lens.

A $1 Coin from Deadwood, South Dakota.

1/3s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0

Cancer bracelet.

1s, f/11, ISO 200, EV 0

Banana.

1/125s, f/16, ISO 200, EV -1.0, flash

Ring-tailed Lemur

1/60s, f/3, ISO 3200, EV -0.3