Nikon 105 macro & D7000

[Abitconfused]

Well, I took the plunge. I ordered a Nikon 105. I have wanted this lens for some time and although it is somewhat heavy (1.74 lbs.) I think it will make a nice walking around & wildlife lens. I also like the fact that it can be used on a full-frame or ASP-C but is there anyone who has used it on a D7000 out there? It will have the FOV of a 158mm lens wow! I think that, with the D7000, I can do a lot of street shooting without being too close to the action. What say ye?

[Manfred M]

I've used the 105mm macro lens on a D90 (crop-frame) and a D800 (full-frame). A friend has lent it to me and I've played around with it over the past few weeks. This lens would not be one I would choose for the type of photography you are thinking of using it for (street and wildlife). I do own the Nikkor f/2 105mm DC, so I do like shooting this focal length.

In my opinion, I find it too short for wildlife work; even a 200mm lens on a crop-frame camera can be bit short. In low light I will use my f/2.8 70-200mm, but will usually use my Nikkor 80-400mm or my wife's 150 - 500mm Sigma on either body.

I find it is too long for street photography; especially on my D90. While a long lens lets you shoot from a distance, the downside is that people keep getting between you and your subject. I use the f/1.8 35mm and on the D800 and the f/1.8 50mm lens on the D800 because they are small and unobtrusive. I've also on occasion used the f/2.8 24-70mm for street photography on both bodies. I find that something a bit wider tends to be my choice for that type of photography.

What I do like the 105mm lens for is portrait photography especially on the FX body. It tends to be a bit long on the DX, but if one has the room to back up a bit it works very well too. I find that I prefer the 105mm DC over the 105mm macro for that work. It is a full stop faster f2 versus f/2.8 so when I use it wide open I get very shallow depth of field and the bokeh is much smoother, especially when using the DC controls.

I'm not a macro photographer and I have played around with the lenses close up capabilities; I even put it on my Panasonic AF100 (with a mFT adaptor = 200mm equiv) to try some macro video work. The focus breathing bothered me, but I don't know how this compares to other macro lenses. I found it to be quite usable with the D800, but found I had to be a bit far away when using the D90 and the AF100.

I'm not sure if this helps at all, and as I said, I can only comment based on the way I shoot. Enjoy your new lens. It is very sharp and has a very flat field of view.

[Letrow]

Hi Ed. I have used it on the D7000. Fabulous combination and in fact, if I look at my tags in Flickr, I would say that this is probably my favourite lens.

My subjects with this lens are mostly macro, flowers and insects. With the D7000 in good light I can do most shots handheld, which is perfect for me, as I like to walk around and hate setting up a tripod all the time.
The lens is very fast, has good bokeh and is very sharp all in all.
Highly recommended.
These threads, (Macro flower photographs) for the macro flowers and (Post your insects) for the insects show you what I do with it.

Have fun with that lens and let us see some of your shots later on.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Ed,

I have the lens and use it on my D5000 and snagged this;


Nikon D5000 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR2: 105mm, 1/180s, f/16, iso1600 cropped to 1000mm FFE (???-40340)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1,506px × 1,000px (recommended)

Shot hand held - chasing the flutterby was bad enough without having a tripod dangling beneath the camera damaging all the flora and frightening the subject

EXIF says focus distance was 0.42m (from the sensor), the camera plus lens is probably 0.12 off that, meaning lens to subject was about a foot - they don't often let you get that close - I had been persistent, but non threatening, in my stalking of this one for about 15 mins and eventually it paid off.

You should use the lens hood when you can, but remove it for this kind of subject - because, as you'll know by now, it adds a quite a bit to the length.

As others have said, I probably wouldn't suggest it for 'street' use as the narrow angle of view and lens dimensions make it quite obvious where it is pointing and with a D7000 lacking a tilting LCD, you cannot seriously shoot from the hip, but you're welcome to prove us wrong

Congrats on the purchase,

[Melkus]

I don't have this lens or have used it but for what your saying you want it for I don't think you will be happy. I'm with Manfred on this, it's really too short for wildlife and too long for street photography. Not sure what you have now but what I been using and works great for wildlife, street and macro is the Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD II IF Macro. Again it depends what you have already.

[evan47]

i have the earlier af-d version of this lens and find it capable of great pin sharp results. i also use the 60mm af-d and sigma 150mm with and without the sigma 1.4tc. the 105 is as sharp as any of them.
the 105mm is a great macro/still life/portrait lens, too short for wild life though. for this i use the 70-300vr and still have to crop, sometimes quite heavily.

[Abitconfused]

After using the 105mm macro in good light for one day, I was amazed with the results. The color, contrast and resolution is great. The lens is 26 oz but compact and the balance is good when mounted on a D7000. I shot using all focus points and AF-C 3D for closeups. I waited for the image and the focus to find one another and took the picture. I have read that the lens' sweet spot is f/5.6 and this may be true but DOF is not what might be hoped for at this stop.

[Dave Humphries]

I have read that the lens' sweet spot is f/5.6 and this may be true but DOF is not what might be hoped for at this stop.

Yes, that information is perhaps only really relevant when shooting at normal distances, with macro, you'll need all the DoF (narrowest aperture) possible - unless you are stacking, then I guess you can choose, but f/5.6 will require more slices than say f/11.

I find good PP sharpening technique is liable to have a greater effect than using the sweet-spot aperture, although this will vary lens-by-lens, I only use Nikon, perhaps the sweet-spot effect is more distinct with cheaper/third party lenses. I just use the aperture that suits the conditions/subject.


I like Pipe-Art, it's unfortunate it doesn't seem to be possible to exclude the loop of cable/pipe on extreme left while maintaining this alignment with the flange.


Watch your exposure (using histogram) though; all three are blown in some channels (e.g. red in all), try half a stop less exposure.

Look forward to seing more,

[Manfred M]

I'm not sure what your concerns are with the DoF are; too little or too much? DoF is related to your shooting aperture and distance to your subject / magnification. Once you drop to f/5.6 you are going to be in the middle ground of DoF, neither razor thin nor particularly deep.

I'm also not sure why you are using 3D focusing as that is really more aimed a when you are shooting moving subjects. Continuous servo is meant for shooting moving subjects and for stationary objects I find that single servo in matrix mode is best. I find that with stationary objects my focus is often not as good when using continuous focus as there seems to be a bit of "jitter" as the camera keeps readjusting the focus point.

The lens is an f/2.8 one, so when you stop down to f/5.6, you are down two stops from wide open, and that is typically where the sweet spot occurs, where it delivers the sharpest images. Frankly, that is one of those "nice to know" items, but it rarely is something I worry about because I usually am shooting with a specific depth of field (very shallow or very broad) in mind. I find that unless I am shooting with a tripod or at a very high shutter speed other factors (camera movement) have a greater impact on my image quality than the lens sweet spot.

[John Morton]

I really like the Nikon 105 Macro, and use it on a D700. I find it is a good walking around lens, but of course that depends on what you shoot when walking around.

Here's a shot from earlier this week, at Montreal's Botanical Gardens where they currently have a greenhouse filled with butterflies (that are for the most part not at all camera shy):



Exposure: manual
F/13
1/100 sec.
ISO 400

SB 900 flash with diffuser.