Hey everybody,
So during the school year I bought a Nikon 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. I haven't gotten much time to use it up till now, but now that I have I thought that I would write a little mini review.
Build:
So, the first thing I noticed when I picked up the lens and put it on my D50 was that is feels heavy and solid. It is extremely well built, being nearly made entirely of metal. It is also fairly compact (about the size of an 18-55).
Ergonomics:
The aperture ring is very smooth to use if you do need to change the aperture manually... Also note that it can be used on a film camera. The switches are fairly stiff which I like so that they can't be changed accidently. The zoom ring is very smooth. I should note that the only thing I don't like about it's build is that to zoom out, you twist it counter clock-wise (all of my other lenses are clockwise). Not a huge deal, but it took me a bit to get used to.
Auto-Focus:
I didn't expect it to auto-focus fast, as it is a macro lens, and most of the time you use manual focus anyways. For general purpose use I found that auto-focus was usually more accurate than manual focussing due to it's shallow depth of field, and it focusses fairly fast. When focussing from infinity to 1:1 however, it is very slow.
Sharpness:
This lens is extremely sharp, and it has been said to be one of the sharpest lenses Nikon has made. I hardly used it, so I didn't really find out how to get the best results with it, but from what I've seen it is amazing. My examples don't do it justice.
Heres a few examples, these are straight out of the camera.
The last photo was a crop of the first flower one. In the parts that are in focus you can see the details on the small petals.
Summary:
Pros:
Fairly Inexpensive---I got mine for $400 in Like New condition.
Great Build Quality
Sharp
Great Colors
A great macro and portrait lens
Cons:
Auto Focus is a bit slow
Reversed focus ring
Overall, it is a great macro, portrait, and general purpose lens. Will I necessarily keep it? Probably not. After buying the lens I've found that macro and portrait are not my style or my main focus, and I didn't need a lens that can only really be used for those things. For a person that shoots alot of macro/portraits, this is an excellent lens to have.
Cheers.
_________________
Eric D.
Nikon D90 | 18-200 VR
"Less is the new Black"---Chase Jarvis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25947744@N03/
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