Howard_Creech's Full Review: Nikon AF Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D Lens
The 105 f2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor is sharp as a tack throughout its focusing range (from infinity to 12 inches) but the strength of this lens is up close and personal. For macro work, the 105 is an almost perfect focal length, especially for insects like butterflies. The one foot minimum focusing distance allows just enough room to get close without spooking your subject. Butterflies, especially, are prone to flight when approached too closely.
When focused at 12 inches the 105 provides a 1-1, or life size on the film, reproduction ratio. The field is flat, and the resolution and color transmission are the best in this focal length class. A flat field is especially important if you are working with depth of field that is measured in fractions of inches. Tack sharp resolution is the key to a "Killer" image when magnification is at 1/4 life size to life size on the film, color transmission (the ability of a lens to focus light rays of different colors at the same point to avoid fringing) is equally important in images that will be enlarged or projected.
The 105 is not limited to macro work, it is the optimal focal length for portrait work as well. In addition, the lens is an excellent "all round" lens, and is especially good for "street" photography. The 105 or a 90/2.8 Sigma macro lens are my lenses of choice for candid "street" and travel/event photography. Lenses in this focal length range allow the photographer to get quite a bit closer, but still remain uninvolved and separate from the action.
The 105 Micro-Nikkor works best as a macro lens. Let me provide an example. Last summer I was wandering around the wildflower meadow at Cherokee Park (Louisville has some exceptional city parks, many designed by master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted) looking for butterflies to shoot. The giant purple coneflowers were in riotous bloom and in one afternoon I shot seven rolls of slide film (and counted 13 butterfly species) At one point I noticed a Clouded Sulphur (a neon yellow butterfly) perched on a backlit cone flower blossom. Using a Nikon F4S, Nikon SB24 Speedlight (with Sto-Fen Omni Bounce Diffuser in place) and the 105, I approached as closely as possible. Shifting my position to backlight the Sulphurs wings (as well as the cone flower) I shot almost half a roll of film (using the matrix balanced fill flash capabilities of the SB24, set to minus 1.7 f-stops) I was able to walk away with over a dozen shots that showed off the beautiful colors, preserved the backlighting, and displayed the butterfly's lime green eye, wing edge scales, (and everything else) in perfect focus.
The 105 Micro-Nikkor is World famous close up photographer John Shaw's most used lens, and he mentions it often in his workshops (and several of his books). The 105 is also a favorite of Oxford University Biology Professor, photographer, and author John Brackenbury, whose beautiful book, "Insects and Flowers, a biological partnership" displays some of the most fantastic close-up images of insects and flowers ever seen anywhere.
The 105 f2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor retails for around six hundred bucks, which is a bargain when compared to other Nikon "professional" lenses. The lens weighs 19.6 ounces, measures 3 inches by 4.2 inches, filter size is the usual Nikon 52mm, and the HS-7 lens hood is a highly recommended accessory. The 105 is the only lens that I have used (to date) that equals the old (7 element) 55 f3.5 Micro Nikkor (my all time resolution/color transmission champ) in terms of delivering consistently tack sharp, flat field, correct color slides every shot.
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