Nikon AF 60mm f/2.8D micro

Nikon AF 60mm

This is a lens I think is often over-looked by people as it doesn’t have a sexy fast aperture and seems to be a rather odd focal length. Its a shame because its actually an incredibly good lens and one that only macro shooters have paid much attention to as they know it to be a great performer. On cropped sensor

cameras, it is the equivalent of 90mm which is perhaps much more interesting for non-macro shooters as that takes it right into prime portrait territory. Even on full frame sensor or film bodies it shouldn’t be overlooked though, as its near enough a standard lens if you don’t need an extremely fast aperture.

This is a scary sharp lens. Really, its wonderful for macro but if you do choose to use it for portraits which is certainly something to think about since its such a great lens, you may want to keep in mind that you should perhaps soften the image so that you don’t see every pore on the person’s face. It has precious little distortions which makes it almost perfect as far as that goes and its an important consideration for macro photography. On cropped sensor bodies you are also getting the sweet spot advantage so there is very little vignetting in my experience and CA’s are not too much of a concern - although it can be forced into producing CA in some circumstances for sure.

Although you probably will not be using it as such, it is very good straight from the maximum aperture. It does get a little better stopped down a bit, but the good news is that it holds this performance quite well and I end up using f/16 quite often without a second though for optical degradation.

The not so great news now. Its not one of Nikon’s newest lenses, so it relies on the camera for auto-focus which may be a bummer for D40(x)/60 owners. As usual though, with macro this is hardly a great loss as nobody in their right mind uses auto-focus for macro shooting. It does have a limiter switch however for when you are shooting other subjects. It saves its best performance for close range work as befitting a macro lens. When focused on objects farther away, its not bad, but its clearly not quite as good either. The last thing that I would change is the fact that its not an internal focus lens, so the lens barrel extends quite a bit when focusing down to 1:1. Now internal focus introduces its own issues, but on balance I prefer working with IF lenses when shooting macro as the barrel can get very close to whatever you’re shooting without it and for live creatures that can obviously scare them - a 60mm focal length isn’t ideal for live creatures anyway, so not such a big loss as it would be at 100mm+. I use this lens often when shooting the couple’s rings with a speedlight and a snoot attached. Its absolutely perfect for this type of photography, or if you’re into shooting coins for instance, it would be in its element. All in all, this is one heck of a lens and the price is fairly reasonable too.