Macro Lens Suggestion

[Hawk]

My wife has added a request for her Christmas list. She wants to get a good macro lens for her Nikon D90. Any suggestions?

[Masterlu]

Randy... The 105~f2.8 Macro is awesome!

[Still-One]

The 60mm Macro is a fine lens too.

[Yamaki]

The Nikkor 105mm f2.8G VR is an awesome lens!

[Still-One]

The one issue for some is that the D90 is a DX format so that 105mm lens will be ~150mm equivalent.

[Portugal]

Originally Posted by Still-One

The one issue for some is that the D90 is a DX format so that 105mm lens will be ~150mm equivalent.

That... and choosing between the 60mm and the 105mm you should consider what other lenses she already has as these macro lenses also work well for non macro shots.

My 60mm f2.8 macro tends to stay in my D4 most of the time.

[JGM411]

i have a d90 and 60mm macro nikon lens. its a bit long for taking pictures when i am 5-6 feet away from the image.

i.e i use it to take pictures of items that eventually go on one of my blogs.

if i were to buy another macro lens, it would be a wider angle lens than 60mm.

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by Hawk

My wife has added a request for her Christmas list. She wants to get a good macro lens for her Nikon D90. Any suggestions?

It actually depends on what you plan on photographing with your macro lens.

I use the 105 f2.8 Nikon for oral surgery photos every day. The 60 mm would put the camera too close to the subject. The distance the 105 puts the camera farther away and works very well.

I also use another same lens outdoors for floral photography. The longer focal length gives better perspective than the 60mm. I also have the older Nikon 55 mm macro which I rarely use for anything other than the old PB-4 bellows and slide copier from the 1970's through 1990's. That focal length is too short and puts you very close to the subject. Even for small items like postal stamps, I would chose the 105. Just like a longer focal length lens 150-200mm is better for portraits, the 105 is better for most macro photography--especially of you will be using a flash for your macrophotography. If you are too close and trying to use a flash, the light from the flash won't illuminate the subject if you are too close to it.

SEE MY PHOTOS I just took with the D200 that has an DX sized 18x24mm sensor--same as D90.

The lens in the 3/4" pic is 3 inches from the ruler, the lens in the 1.5" pic is 6 inches from the ruler and the lens in the 3" pic is about 12" from the ruler. To get similar sized objects in the field with a 60mm lens would put you right on top of the subject. For a close frame filling head shot from chin to hairline, you would be about five feet from the person. I would use the 60mm for LARGER objects you will be farther from and the 105 for objects in the smaller size range I just posted.

[Still-One]

I think you mean a DX sensor same as the D90.

Most photographers prefer a ~90mm lens for portraits and would think 150-200 would add too much distortion.

[GaryProtein]

The DX sensor is 18x24 and the FX sensor is 24x36. I corrected my typo.

I like to be about 10 feet from the face when I do an art type studio portrait. It makes it much easier to light and position the subject and background.