Review on 📷 Enhance Photography with Nikon AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED Vibration Reduction Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras by Jessica Moodley

Let me start by saying that I have owned several Nikon DX cameras (currently d60, d200, d90) and have owned and used many macro/micro lenses. I'm an advanced hobbyist who is occasionally (non-commercially) compensated for my work, and macro/close-up focus lenses have proven to be my niche of choice. I owned and used them extensively; 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 Nikon 85mm 3.5 VR. I have used all of these lenses with and without a teleconverter (Vivitar mc-7 2x) and extensions of various lengths. While I'm not here to say that the 85mm VR is the best lens in the world, I do want to say that overall this lens is very, very good and makes it easy to get amazing images! First, the lens is very light and compact. . I photograph everything that moves and sometimes everything that doesn't move. For me, portability and maneuverability come first. Some lenses may be smaller and/or lighter, but none offer the same working distance as this lens, which is approximately 5.5 inches from the front of the lens. Thanks to its long working distance, the built-in flash doesn't cast shadows (only tested on the d200/d90) at a 1:1 life-size distance. Skeptics will scoff at using the built in flash but I mostly 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 maximum aperture of 3.5 was never used. slows me down, and in fact I often stop and use the flash to light my way to the perfect depth of field. When you focus on life-size details, depth of field is very important. I often stop my lens well past diffraction, ignoring physics, and use flash to add more detail and depth to my images! Because this lens offers instant manual focus override, I can usually point the autofocus system close to the point of focus and it will lock from there, or I can always easily change or adjust the zoom without pulling the camera out of the frame like on the Tokina af. /mf clutch. Because of this seamless ability to use the lens, he stayed and everyone else disappeared. After practice, it's actually very easy to use, and installed on my d90 it never feels too heavy or unbalanced. I used this lens for portraits, but that's not my main purpose for this lens. However, I believe that in capable hands a maximum aperture of 3.5 wouldn't make much difference to 2.8 anyway. At higher magnifications and with an aperture of nine blades, this lens blurs the background slightly and evenly. If you really need portrait depth, 2.8 isn't that great anyway. That's what they do (and I have) aperture corrections 1.4! The bokeh of this lens is very pleasing. I have a Voightlander, a Nikon 180mm 2.8 as well as the venerable Vivitar Series 1 90mm and the Nikon 85mm vr doesn't disappoint. A wide open aperture can cause a cat-eye effect on highlights at or near the edges of the image. This used to only be offered by really exotic lenses and was considered characteristic, so this effect is a subjective thing. A level down from the max gets rid of that and the highlights are smooth, round and creamy! There's some noticeable wide-open vignetting, but again, I often only shoot wide open for this effect if it suits the composition, so again it's not bad and it's easy to fix or avoid. Overall, this was the most fun and easiest macro lens to use. have been used so far. The Nikon 105mm 2.8 variant looks nice but is very expensive and very heavy! If I had one small gripe with this lens, it would be the manual focus. Overall, this is one of the best MF feels in an AF lens, but the travel is a bit shorter from f/1 to infinity, so fast manual accuracy is sometimes limited as you're missing the plane of focus from the front. fall behind before you expect if you're used to MF lenses. Anyway, it doesn't matter to me if you buy this lens or not, I think it's overlooked and there seems to be a lack of quality user information on the web. To me it beats all of the above lenses and handles just as well as any of the others! If you can't get sharp images with this lens, try focusing on what you see in the mirror! Jokes aside, I wrote this review because a macro lens is an interesting purchase and there are many factors to consider when making a purchase. one. For example size, price, magnification, working distance, bokeh, max/min. Aperture, sharpness, contrast, focusing mechanism, lens extension. With that in mind, the Nikon 85mm vr is currently a good bargain-priced choice on the used market. The lens isn't much larger (if at all) than the 55-200mm vr. So if you plan on using the Nikon DX, the format professional hobbyists choose (due to its size/price ratio) then you really can't go wrong with this lens, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this review! I would like to add that I recently compared this lens to two different Sigma 70mm 2.8 Maco lenses (known to be the sharpest) and the differences were so small that I didn't feel the need to buy the Sigma hold what is cumbersome to handle. In addition, on Nikon DX cameras, Sigma overexposes and flickers slightly. It's sharp wide open, but the difference in sharpness isn't that big due to the longer 85mm focal length. My experience is that an 85mm lens with a 3.5mm focal length can have about the same depth of field as a 2.8 lens with a 70mm focal length, making the aperture difference meaningless. Additionally, Nikon's macro photography stops much further (a must for macro photography) and remains very sharp even at f/45, especially when using the built-in flash to enhance detail. Overall, the 85mm macro lens remains an unbeatable lens. Don't let the naysayers fool you, f/3.5 is really just a feather in people's hats to make their profile tags look cool on discussion forums because all lenses talk about f/2.8.