Nikon AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED Vibration Reduction Fixed Zoom Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

I've had this lens for a month and have taken @ 1000 shots. This is my first macro so i can't give any comparisons. All my shots are at the Honolulu Zoo. This is a great walk around lens for a zoo. The 85mm is right for the animals and the macro for bugs and flowers. Past 3 feet you don't get any magnification other than the 85mm which is not insignificant.Pros:1. The minimum focus distance is 5 1/4 inches from the front of the lens. This is way better than my point and shoot. That's 5 1/4 inches at 1:1 which i rarely use because of the thin dof and my shaky hands. At 1:2 it's 9 inches and you can fill the frame with a bee.2. The lens is plastic but feels solid in weight and construction. The mount is metal. It sticks out 4 1/2 inches from the front of my d40. Really a tidy package considering all it can do.3. Very sharp images, sharper than my 18-55 and 55-200, which do not have vr so that contributes.4. The focus switch. Two positions, M and M/A. The M is manual of course and mostly what i use. I have to use manual with the larger magnification ratios (1:2,1:1.6,1:1.4,1:1.2 and 1:1). On auto the lens freaks out due to slight changes i make in camera position. The M/A is auto focus with a manual override. The auto focus works great with anything over 3 feet and the override is useful for slight changes in subject position. If you are steady or an old hand at macro maybe the auto focus will work at closer magnifications.5. The scale window. It is on top of the lens and easy to read. It shows magnification ratio and distance to subject in feet and meters. When i want a macro shot i choose 1:1.2, 1:1.4 or 1:1.6. On manual focus i focus by moving the camera and as long as i don't touch the focus ring the ratio stays put. This is important to me because i'm not a big fan of bokeh and want as much dof as possible. Once my exposure is set i can concentrate on focus and composition.Cons:Like i said, this is my first macro lens so i don't know if i'm missing a feature other lenses have. There is nothing about this lens i do not like.I made this purchase because of the 85mm and the brand. I bought from amazon because i knew if there was a problem or if i didn't like the lens returning would be easy and painless. I do reccomend this lens as a first time macro user.

Ordered 85mm Nikon micro lens for my D100 and the lens arrived without any visible damage or scratches. The auto focused worked as well and the photos came out great. Included a few of my favorite pictures using this lens. I’m simply an amateur photographer who just started learning how to take nature photos but so far I’m very satisfied with the product.

Let me start off by saying that I have owned several Nikon DX bodies (d60,d200,d90 currently) and have also owned and used many macro/micro lenses. I am an advanced amateur that occasionally (non-commercially) gets compensated for my work, and macro/close-focus lenses, happen to be a favorite niche for me.I have owned and used extensively; the Tokina 100mm 2.8 af-d, Nikon 55mm 3.5, Nikon 105mm 4, Nikon 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 (1:2), Vivitar series 1 90mm 2.5, Vivitar 55mm 2.8, and currently the nikon 85mm 3.5 VR. I used all of these lenses with and without a number of tele-converters (Vivitar mc-7 2x)and extension tubes of various lengths. While I am not here to say that the 85mm vr is the best lens in the world I am saying that overall this lens is very, very good and makes it so easy to get stunning images!First off, the lens is super light and compact. I photograph anything that moves and sometimes things that do not. For me portability and maneuverability are high on my list. Some lenses may be smaller and/or lighter but none offer the working distance that this lens does, which is about 5.5 inches from front of the lens. Because of this generous working distance the built-in flash does not cast a shadow (tested on d200/d90 only) at 1:1 life-size distances. Naysayers will scoff at the use of a built-in flash but I primarily use it as a quick and easy fill flash and would rather have the option and not need it, than need it and not have it.The max aperture of 3.5 has never slowed me down and in fact I often stop down and use the flash to light my way into perfect depth of field. When focusing in close to life-size details, depth of field becomes very important. I often stop the lens way down beyond diffraction, ignoring physics and using the flash to give great detail and depth to my images! Because this lens allows instant manual focus override I can usually guide the AF system close to the point of focus and it locks in from there, or I can easily alter or set the magnification anytime without jerking the camera out of frame like on the Tokina af/mf clutch. It is because of this seamless ability using the lens that it has remained and all other have gone. It really is very easy to use with practice and mounted on my d90 never feels too heavy or out of balance.I've used this lens for portraits but this is not my primary target for this lens. I believe though, that in competent hands the max aperture of 3.5 is not really going to be a big difference compared to 2.8 anyway. At higher magnification and the nine-rounded blade aperture easily allow this lens to wash backgrounds smoothly and easily away. If you really want portrait depths 2.8 isn't all that great anyway. That's what they make (and I have) fast 1.4 primes for!The bokeh of this lens is very pleasing. I have Voightlander's, a Nikon 180mm 2.8, as well as the venerable Vivitar series 1 90mm and the Nikon 85mm vr does not disappoint. Wide-open there can be a cat's eye effect on oof highlights at or near the edge of the frame. It used to be that only really exotic lenses offered this and was considered a signature, so this effect is kind of a subjective matter. One stop down from max gets rid of this and oof highlights are smooth, round and creamy! Wide open there is somewhat noticeable vignetting but again I often will only shoot wide open for this effect if it suits the composition so again, it's not bad and easily correctable or avoidable.Overall this has been the most pleasurable and easy to use macro lens I have used so far. The Nikon 105mm 2.8 option looks nice but it is very spend y, and very heavy! If I had one minor complaint of this lens it would be the manual focus. Overall, it is on of the best MF feels for an AF lens, but the travel is a little short from 1:1, to infinity, so it sometime limits quick accuracy by hand because you will pass from the front of the plane of focus to behind before you expect, if you are used to MF lenses.Anyway, it does not matter to me if you buy this lens or not, I think it is an overlooked item and there seems to be a lack of quality user information on the internet. For me it is better than all of the lenses above and handles as good as anything out there! If you cannot get sharp images with this lens then maybe you should try focusing on what you see in the mirror!All joking aside, I wrote this review because a macro lens is a fun purchase and there are a lot of things to consider when purchasing one. Such as, size, price, magnification, working-distance, bokeh, max/min. aperture, sharpness, contrast, focus mechanism, lens extension. Taking into consideration the above, the Nikon 85mm vr is a solid choice at a bargain on the used market right now. The lens is not much bigger (if it even is) than the 55-200mm vr. So if you plan to stay with Nikon DX ,the professional amateur's choice format (due to size/cost benefit ratio) then you really can't go wrong with this lens, otherwise I would not waste my time writing this review!EditJust wanted to add that I've recently compared this lens to two different sigma 70mm 2.8 maco(known to be the sharpest)lenses and the differences were so small that I felt little need to keep the awkwardly handling sigma. Also, the sigma over exposes on Nikon dx bodies and flares easily. It is sharp wide open but the dof differences are not that great because of greater focal length of 85mm. My experience shows that an 85mm 3.5 lens can have about the same depth of field as a 70mm at 2.8, making aperture differences pointless. Also, the Nikon macro stops down way further (needed for macro) and remains very sharp even at f/45, especially using the built in flash to enhance detail. All in all the 85mm macro remains a tough lens to beat. Don't let the naysayers dissuade you because of the 3.5 aperture, this is really only a feather in people's cap so that their profile tags will look cool in discussion forums because there lenses all say f/2.8.