Nikkor 85mm F3.5G DX Micro

[drpepper]

I know this lens has been mentioned briefly in a couple of other threads, but the conversation always seems to turn to 60 vs 105 mm. I'm seriously considering buying the 85mm offering as a first UW macro lens - does anyone who's using it regular fancy venturing a review??

Many thanks.

 

[drpepper]

- bump -

 

[marcaumarc]

I have it, and I use it on a D90. I also have 35mm and 60mm macro lenses. I love the 85mm, and if I'm shooting macro, that's usually what I'm using. I would recommend it over the 60mm. I haven't used a 105, so I can't really compare to that, but based on using the 85 (which is the equivalent of 120-something mm on the D90), I would guess that I don't really need a 105.

For tiny stuff, it's superb. For larger fish or anything bigger than that, I think you really have to be too far to get the whole fish in the frame.

If you already had the 60mm, then you wouldn't really need the 85, but if you didn't have either, I would suggest the 85. On a crop frame sensor, I feel like 105 would be too much, but that's only based on my experience with the lenses I have.

There are some photos taken with the 85mm here:

Last Dives on Saba – Man o’ War Shoals and Tent Reef | Les Fruits De Mer

I also really like it for photographing insects and stuff on land.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

DrPepper: Where are you diving? What's the vis like?

The discussion goes 60 vs 105 because the 85 is relatively new.

For bad vis, you want a shorter macro lens.

 

[drpepper]

Hi and thanks for the replies.

I think the 85's been out over a year now - I'd have thought the uptake would be fairly good as it seems a happy medium between 60 and 105.

I'll be using it mostly in tropical waters, so hopefully the vis will be OK.

Thanks again - looking forward to hearing about anyone else's experiences.

 

[marcaumarc]

Also, along the lines of what Chuck said, and you probably already know this, but on land all these lenses are 1:1 magnification, so when you are as close as you can focus, the subject is the same size on the camera sensor as it is in real life. Underwater, this would be magnified equally for all the lenses due to refraction. (Hopefully I'm getting this right.) So the difference between them is basically how far you are from the subject at full magnification. If you're farther, then there's more water between the lens and the subject, which can be worse, but you also don't have to get as close and potentially scare away your subject. If your subject is moving, a longer lens has a narrower field of view, so it can be a little harder to find and track something.

Also the longer the focal length, generally the slower it is to focus, but this doesn't seem very different for the 60 and 85 as far as I can tell.

If you might upgrade to a full-frame camera, then you wouldn't be able to use the 85mm on it, because that is made specifically for crop-sensor cameras.

The smallest advantage of the 85mm is that it takes 52mm filters (and diopters, lens caps, etc), which you may already have since this is a common size.

 

[Searcaigh]

I recently bought this lens through B&H prior to my recent Philippine trip and it behaved as I expected it to from my experience with a 105 poor autofocus in bad viz.

I also own a 60 and 105 as well as the Tokina 35, however I have not used my 105 since I "went digital" several years ago as I do not have a port to accommodate it.

The advantage of the 85 is that it is not a lot bigger than the 60 and fits in the same port that I use for the 60 and 35.

A focus light might help with the autofocus but as I lost my hotshoe connector for my light a few months ago and was diving recently without it, so my recent trip was frustrating and only used it for one dive. As expected the autofocus would not settle (using a D300 in a Sea & Sea housing).

I usually shoot manual focus even with my 60 so was rather cheesed off when I missed some shots, what is missing from the Sea & Sea range is a focus gear for this lens.

The only shot that is worth showing from the only dive I have done with the lens is attached, judge for yourself.