AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85mm f/3.5G ED VR

This lens is an excellent intro lens for those looking to practice micro/macro photography. It is fast, easy to focus, and very accurate. I use it in botanical gardens and have consistently turned out quality captures using the camera in a hand-held, rather than a tripod, shooting method.

The lens produces images with great clarity for the price. I´ve also used it for portraits and it excels there as well, especially when you don´t want to be too close to your subject. You can walk it out for landscapes, also.

I have used this lens, simply because it is so much fun to use, more than my wide angle and zoom lenses. It opens up a whole new world of artistic expression and composition that you wouldn´t suspect otherwise.

Highly recommended!

I was super excited to get this macro lens since it´s my first legit macro lens. When I found out it finally arrived, I nearly had a panic attack and I sounded worse than that sponge-painting lady whose video has gone viral in the past week. Anyway, I immediately started putting this lens to the preliminary tests and it. is. A.MAZING.
I couldn´t have asked for a better first macro lens.

The newer design of Nikon´s lenses are really easy to use and they do the minute focusing for you with just one rotation of the lens instead of having to rotate the outer and inner lens pieces. The range this lens offers is FANTASTIC and the clarity of the photos is DEFINITELY worth your money. It also works fantastically on the M/A function and allows you to manually toggle focus even while you´re in auto mode.

I definitely recommend this lens for anyone in the market for a macro. The focus is just...beyond amazing. It´s worth every single hard-earned penny.

I´v had this lens for a little over a year now and I love it. I am really into photographing flowers and it´s perfect. It allows me to get in as close as I want and it always captures beautiful colors.

This lens is absolutely FANTASTIC! I love taking pictures of insects, and the amount of wonderful shots I´ve gotten this spring/summer so far is just amazing. I´ve never had so much fun. It takes you in close and the picture quality is astounding. I use it with my D3100 (A terrific, user friendly SLR). It´s also very light and all the focusing and mechanics is internal so there is no lens movement to scare away potential subjects when you´re in close. I will include a few of the shots I´ve gotten so far. This lens should be in everyone´s camera bag. The price is right also.

This is my go-to lens. I have had great success with this lens in almost everything I´ve tried. It´s great for close-ups and for landscapes.

Using this lens with a D300 brings marvel with every photo !! Image quality is unmatched with all but the top end lenses over $2,000 and equivalent to those as well. The VR function allows you to reach alot further into demanding the shot that most lenses fall short of. I´ve shot with most of Nikon´s lineup and used almost every lens available in Nikon´s line up and this is in the Top 5 and THE TOP in its price range scaling $1000 up or down. IF YOU DON´T HAVE THIS LENS, YOU ARE NOT SEEING YOUR FULL POTENTIAL AS A PHOTOGRAPHER ON ANY LEVEL !

We bought both the 85 mm DX micro and the 105 mm micro for work. I read that the 85 has significant barrel distortions and is below par for a Nikon lens. In contrast, the 105 is considered excellent. I have used both extensively for close work on small inanimate objects. For what I am doing, I see no difference at all between the pictures I get with 85 and the 105. The 105 is certainly more solid, but considerably heavier and twice the price. If you rather carry around a much lighter lens, the 85 should do just fine.

I find both VR and auto focusing to be quite helpful. I have never had to manually focus, despite what I have read about the need for doing so under high magnifications. I also take all my close-ups without a tripod because the VR works so well. This is certainly not the advice I have seen. Everything I read says that micro picture must be taken with a tripod.

I only learned about Nikkor Micro lenses relatively late in my film camera days, but they quickly became favorites. This 85mm is the best yet. I love taking pictures of the various plants and shrubs I have in my yard and the ability to get in close for a dramatic image has enhanced my enjoyment of both the plants and the photography. Mated with the D7000, I have the perfect ´rig´ for taking these photos. The sharpness of the images and the smoothness of operation make taking pictures a lot more fun. The biggest surprise was the discovery of the fine, delicate, details of blossoms, leaves, etc. I had not seen them before. When I post some of them on my facebook page, I get almost immediate feedback. Some of it comes from folks I don´t even know. If you haven´t ever tried a micro lens, you owe it to yourself to do so. It will open your eyes to a whole new world of subject matter.

I purchased this lens to explore 1:1 micro photography, but discovered it is great for portraits also. I also have used it for closeups of small architecture models in day lit conditions with good effect.