Macro lenses? Nikon 105mm f/2.8G?

Avengerx77 · Feb 23, 2016

I have a Nikon D3300 and I am looking for a macro lens. The Nikon 105mm f/2.8G got my attention and it seems it has great reviews and recommendations for macro and portrait photography in Amazon. Do anyone have them, thoughts? Is it worth the price? Other recommended lens?

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Micro-N...F8&qid=1456273901&sr=8-3&keywords=Nikon+macro

Thanks, wanted to check first here before spending that much money.

Derrel · Feb 23, 2016

There's one currently for sale from a TPF member "Nerwin" that he just put up for sale yesterday.

JustJazzie · Feb 23, 2016

No experience with that lens. I have the sigma 150mm macro with my Nikon and I really love it! Not only for macro, by for portraits as well. It's pretty sweet. The extra working distance is handy, but you also need a tripod, almost always for close up work, because of the focal length.

Avengerx77 · Feb 23, 2016

JustJazzie said:
No experience with that lens. I have the sigma 150mm macro with my Nikon and I really love it! Not only for macro, by for portraits as well. It's pretty sweet. The extra working distance is handy, but you also need a tripod, almost always for close up work, because of the focal length.

Thanks, will take a look on that one.

Avengerx77 · Feb 23, 2016

Derrel said:
There's one currently for sale from a TPF member "Nerwin" that he just put up for sale yesterday.

Thanks for the heads-up Derrel. I am planning to buy them around April, anyways might be tricky to get them send to Costa Rica :frog:

JustJazzie · Feb 23, 2016

Are you interested in a specific genre of macro?

Avengerx77 · Feb 23, 2016

JustJazzie said:
Are you interested in a specific genre of macro?

I would say mostly for insects, flowers. Might want to use it for water drop photography eventually.

Derrel · Feb 23, 2016

Oh, sorry, I ddi not see the Costa Rica location. There are "other" macro lens choices, like the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro models (multiple versions, going back a couple decades); the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 ATX-Pro macro; Sigma makes some macros, 105, and 150mm models, used to make a 180mm f/3.5 which I had for a while, that was fun to use when it would focus right. With a D3300, I would make sure the lens has an in-lens focusing motor, for the most compatibility.

The Tokina 100 AT-X Pro is actually pretty good, from the photos I have seen. So is the Sigma 150mm OS macro--a pretty nice lens!

You need to keep in mind that a 90 to 105mm macro lens is not an especially complicated lens to engineer and build, and even fairly old, cheaper 100 or 105mm manual focusing macro lenses are pretty good optics, and also--much macro work is done at f/8 to f/16, where there is typically diffraction that hurts ultimate sharpness, and a LOT of macro work can, and is, done in manual focusing mode, by moving yourself, or the camera on a focusing rail or tripod closer, or farther from the subject.

For insects, the longer 150mm and 180mm macro lenses are nice.

jl1975 · Feb 23, 2016

I just got the Nikon 105 and I love it! I haven't tried any portraits with it, but it's a great lens. Just be careful with it... it's really sharp! (sorry, I couldn't resist the bad joke)

hamfist · Feb 25, 2016

fantastic lens for general macro and portraits. Very, very sharp.

jaomul · Feb 25, 2016

Anything I've seen rates the sigma 105mm OS as good as the Nikon.

I bought the tamron 90mm vc over the sigma because it's said to have a measure of weather resistance, this wouldn't be relevant for a d3300. It's a good macro and portrait lens that @ 90mm might be more suitable for portraiture on a crop camera than a 105mm lens depending on working distance

hamfist · Feb 25, 2016

I tried the Tamron 90mm VC and it was certainly great for macro work but the unit I tried certainly was awful for more "long distance" work. It lost all clarity and sharpness when focusing at distances beyond about 20 feet.
The Sigma certainly is also very well thought of (although I have not tried it) although it does have a weakness for lens flare from many reports.

Braineack · Feb 25, 2016

The new Tamron SP 90mm 2.8 VC looks promising, and it's still a touch cheaper than the Nikon.

It now works in conjunction with the base that can fine-tune the lens.

lolland · Mar 2, 2016

I only know the nikkor lens and if you ever plan to use it for anything else than macro, it's an awesome lens.
Insanely sharp and EXTREMELY insanely fast autofocus. Very very fast.
Build quality is awesome and it has the rubber seal at the mount.
I use it on my d7100.

Solarflare · Mar 2, 2016

hamfist said:
I tried the Tamron 90mm VC and it was certainly great for macro work but the unit I tried certainly was awful for more "long distance" work. It lost all clarity and sharpness when focusing at distances beyond about 20 feet.

Sounds like a bad copy to me.