Nikon 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D AF ED Micro Zoom-Nikkor

This lens is a bit different to the other micro nikkors, for it can zoom as well as focus. This means, of course, that you don't have to move your whole rig around to change the magnification, you just zoom in and out. This is surprisingly convenient. On top of conveneince this lens also offers excellent sharpness and bokeh and has no CA to speak of - it's truly a member of the micro-nikkor lineup when it comes to image quality.

The barrel is made of plastic, but very nice plastic. It doesn't extend when zooming, only when focusing. AF is slow, but quite usable for landscapes and so on. MF, while good, is not as smooth and creamy as the 200/4 and nor is the tripod collar nearly as nice - it doesn't rotate as freely and it is not as sturdy, though it is still pretty good.

The 70-180 is perfect for flowers and fungi.

Sharp
Nice Bokeh
Versatile
Unique

Slow autofocus
Dated M/A ring

Micro Nikkor 60/2.8
Micro Nikkor 105/2.8 VR ED
Micro Nikkor 200/4 ED

Not used.

Contrary to other reviews, I have found infiniti to be tack sharp with this lens on a D70 with f8+. Resolving detail is incredible. If I had more pixels I would have more detail. The quality of this lens will only improve with digital camera technology. Focusing from 0-infiniti requires several full turns (about 3) of the barrel, where a 50mm prime is 3/4 a turn. As a result you can really fine tune your focal plane. There are ways to work around the hunting, as the manual ring is great and so is the focus limiter. This camera likes to be in manual mode, but once you find a hotspot, switch the ring to auto with af-c and it will track like a champion. I have taken this lens to the horse races and air shows and come home with some very sharp images.

Die hard. Multipurpose.

This is not a sporting lens by nature

60mm micro

This review of the AF Micro-Nikkor ED 70-180/4.5-5.6 D is mainly based upon experience using an F80/N80 camera and reversal film. My experience with D70 is not yet enough to give more than a qualified impression. I do a lot of outdoor macro photography and decided to procure this lens for two reasons: the tripod collar and the zoom feature. Both together enable composing images with ease and reduce drastically the need for re-aligning the tripod setup. Once the tripod is positioned, the fine tuning of composition can be achieved with alignments of ball head, panning base, barrel rotation and zooming. The resulting image quality leaves nothing to desire; sharpness, contrast and color rendition are excellent. To my surprise, I have not yet experienced any problem with the mirror slap of the F80, which can be a problem with longer focal length lenses. In the macro domain, the lens is on par with the excellent Tamron 2.8/90mm prime lens which I often used but now it is more convenient to work with the Nikkor (well "work" is not quite the right expression because I do photography for fun and not for money, so let me say it is more fun). I.m.o. this lens is also qualified for general photography, provided that you can live with the rather poor aperture ratio. (My sample clearly outperformed the usually highly regarded 2.8/80-200 AF-N Nikkor I used to have, but I am convinced that particular sample was just a poor one.) Anyway, I don't see a quality-related reason not to try this lens on all genres of photography. Mechanically, it looks, feels and operates like a pro lens should do. I am sure it will never fail unless one abuses it. Nikon claims this lens construction maintains the effective aperture independent from the reproduction ratio. Consequently, the viewfinder does not get darker when you focus really close. This is achieved by a clever internal focusing and the price to pay is that the effective focal length drops drastically when approaching maximum reproduction ratio. For all who wish to read more about this I recommend a visit to Riccardo Polini's very instructive internet site about macro photography. Eventually, the working distance at a setting of 180mm can be as little as 112mm, in fact less than what you achieve with the 105mm Micro-Nikkor. Sadly, this lens is not quite a replacement for a 180/200mm Macro prime lens. For best results in the macro domain, I recommend to stop down to f/11 but not more than f/19. The lens works very well with a Kenko Pro300 1.4x converter or a Nikon 5T close-up attachment. Both allow to increase the working distance to some degree or, alternatively, increase the reproduction ratio a little. When I go hiking, this lens is mostly with me, because it is so versatile. Addendum concerning D70: I noticed the image quality at the 180mm setting is definitely not as excellent as below e.g. 130mm. Sharpness deteriorates, this effect did not turn out as obvious when using reversal film. To be fair, this is not a critical issue to worry about. I just noticed it (taking NEF raw data).

Excellent versatility. Quality of build and optics. Nine diaphragm blades provide a pleasant "bokeh". Vivid neutral colour rendition, no noticeable colour cast. Decent tripod collar (but unfortunately with a limit stop so it does not rotate freely). AF/MF switch at lens barrel means no trouble with switch at the camera body.

Mainly the fact that the working distance falls short even at 180mm nominal focal length. In manual focusing mode, the use of polarizer filters is a pain because the manipulations on the filter may easily affect the focus setting. Addendum concerning digital camera bodies: the 1.5 crop factor yields an effective increase of working distance, which reduces the previously mentioned disadvantage of IF design.

Tamron 90mm macro, 60mm Micro-Nikkor

Not used with this item, otherwise excellent

this is the lens that I carry with me all the time for outdoor shot and macro shot. it is a little slow compare to 105mm lens but contrast and sharpness is second to none. Other post above me complain about the weight of the lens. I bet that person never touch leica lens or contax lens. if you use leica 180mm lens then you will much appreciate the weight on nikon 70-180mm lens. the lens is very easy to use in for composition in macro. I am missing 1:1 mag. and f2.8 in this lens. other than those two, I am completely happy with the lens.

good built tripod mount sharps lightweight good built

not 1:1 mag slow lens

nikon 105 f2.8 ais micro nikon 55 f2.8 ais micro leica 100 f2.8 elmarit macro

It''s quite expensive for a small aperture mid-range zoom but I like it mainly for its perfectly rounded 9 bladed aperture. By the way it''s darn good when shooting into strong lights, which I encountered quite often.

Rounded aperture and thus nice bokeh Great clarity Quite good when shooting into strong lights

Not a f2.8 lens A bit soft wide open For such aperture it should be smaller in size

AF-D 85mm f1.8 AIS 105mm f2.5 AF-D 180 f2.8

not yet needed