Nikon 60mm AF-S Micro-Nikkor Macro Lens

Last update (May 31, 2009): A portrait.

This post is a compilation of annotated links to Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro-Nikkor Lens reviews, photo samples and resources.

Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro-Nikkor Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras

A portrait

Rigel Bowen of DCCPhotography mounted the 60mm Micro-Nikkor on a Nikon D700 to photograph this portrait of a lady.

Chillies, shot with a Nikon D5000

This is one of Nikon's official Nikon D5000 photos – the entire gallery is here.

Click on the thumbnail below to open up the full-resolution image in a new browser window, or just right-click to save to your hard drive.

Chillies, shot details: File size: 6.16 MB Shutter speed: 1/80 sec Aperture: f/3.2 ISO: ISO 800 Focal length: 60mm Lens: Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro-Nikkor Macro Picture control: Vivid White balance: AWB (Automatic White Balance) Exposure mode: Aperture-Priority Auto (-1/3 EV) Exposure metering: 3D Color Matrix Metering II

Full-sized photo of forlorn ole Maxi the dog

This was just a grab shot of my parents' pet cross-bred miniature pinscher. The image was shot with the Nikon D90 in RAW mode, and a straight conversion to JPEG was done in Nikon View using the highest quality setting.

Click the image to view in full-resolution.

Full-sized photo of a Heliconia psittacorum flower

This photo (click for the full-resolution image) was taken with the help of a Gitzo GT1931 tripod, which was used to stabilize the D90 plus 60mm AF-S macro.

The RAW file had gone through edits (exposure, brightness, levels and contrast adjustments to make sure olors and sharpness pop without blowing out the red channel) in Aperture (by Apple), and the resulting JPEG was exported using the highest quality setting.

My review and test photos

I bought this lens on December 22nd, 2008 to replace my Nikon 50mm f/1.4D AF.

The Nikkor 50 / 1.4 was great in the bokeh department, but biting sharpness wasn't one of its strengths.

In purchasing the 60mm AF-S Micro-Nikkor, I was looking for a lens that could deliver excellent sharpness throughout the frame at wide-open aperture of f/2.8 and when stopped all the way down to f/22.

I'd say this lens delivers what I want in spades.

The bokeh on this lens isn't unpleasant (and nowhere near as harsh as what the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF would give you when stopped down to f/2.8 or smaller), but don't expect Leica or Zeiss-like creamy and dreamy bokeh. The images below (which I took with my Nikon D90) show what the bokeh looks like at f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6 and f/8. Clicking on the photo brings you to the full-sized version, which were converted from the RAW / NEF files using Nikon Capture NX 2 with no further edits.

f/2.8:

f/4:

f/5.6:

f/8:

To get an idea of what a half-body portrait with some background foliage would look like as far as bokeh goes, here's one of my buddy, John Ishii, playing the guitar.

Another f/2.8 shot of John Ishii, this time taken indoors at ISO 800 (edited in NX2) with a Nikon D3X, shows front and rear bokeh quality and characteristics.

You can clearly see the vignetting at the upper left corner, something that you'll have to live with if shooting at wide apertures on Nikon's FX (full frame) digital SLR cameras.

Professional Reviews, User Opinions and Tests

Nikon 60mm f/2.8: AF-S vs. AF-D versions

Are you trying to decide whether to get the newer Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S or the 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor lens?

anotherMike posts a brief user review on why he prefers the new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S macro lens over the older 60mm f/2.8D AF version.

Here's a summary:

1. Photographs of subjects at a distance taken with the AF-S version are sharp. A common complaint with the older AF-D was that it was optimized for close-up photography, hence close-up images were sharp, but not when you're shooting objects at a greater distance.
2. The newer 60mm f/2.8 lens has better contrast and micro-contrast, meaning that tonal and textural differences are better delineated.
3. Photos taken with the newer AF-S version have better dimensionality. Images look more "real" due to the better 3-D effect.

AF hunts with the Nikon D200

'nomorepencils" reports in this post that the 60mm's autofocus hunts when used with his D200.

Ken Rockwell's Nkon 60mm AF-S Review

Ken's piece on the Nikon 60mm AF-S macro is one of the best articles out there (I like the section with a brief history of Nikon's macro lenses).

Interesting items from his review:

1. There's a lot of vignetting with this lens, especially noticeable on Nikon film cameras or FX (full-frame) camera such as the Nikon D3.
2. The maximum wide-open aperture at 1:1 life-size magnification is only f/4.8.
3. The 60mm AF-S has more pincushion distortion than the older 60mm f/2.8D AF macro lens. Even the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF has less distortion.
4. Diffraction starts being visible at f/11 on the D300 and f/16 on the D3.
5. The older 60mm f/2.8D AF gives an extra inch of working distance, which means the front lens element can be placed farther away from the subject for 1:1 magnification.
6. The main advantage the new 60mm AF-S lens has over the older AF-D version is superior sharpness at all apertures, across the entire frame.

Grab a cup of coffee and a comfortable chair, and prepare yourself for a long read.

60mm AF-S review SLRGear.com

For a more technical review with lots of charts, refer to SLRGear's review.

Juanjo Viagran's brief user review and photos

This forum post has lots of photos of the 60mm AF-S lens itself, plus some sample images.

Interesting is Juanjo's use of the retractable Nikon HR-5 rubber hood which seems to be more flexible in use than your old typically rigid lens hood. It's the first time I've seen a photo of this hood on the internet.

Photos comparing the 60mm AF-S vs the older AF-D version of the lens also show that the lens barrel of the newer 60mm macro does not telescope. In other words, the length of the lens is fixed and won't extend even when you perform close focusing. This is the reason why the AF-D gives an additional inch of working distance compared to the new lens (see Ken's review for details).

If you had read through Ken's review linked to above, you would have noticed that Ken doesn't recommend this lens for 1:1-type macro shooting (bugs and the like). In Juanjo's thread however, one recommended application of the 60mm AF-S is for food photography where extreme close-focusing is not required, but sharpness and a shorter focal length (so that the camera doesn't have to be too far away from the food) are desirable.

Juanjo notes that the autofocusing speed on the AF-S version is so much faster than on the older AF-D. Bokeh also seems much better.

Extensive gallery of Nikon 60mm f/2.8G test photos

AndreasE has posted an excellent set of test photos taken with a brand-new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G macro lens.

His initial impressions of the lens are extremely favorable, and he does some comparisons with the older Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D AF lens too.

Here's a summary of that discussion thread and his review:

1. This is photo shows the Nikon 60mm AF-S and the older version side-by-side. The new lens looks very much larger.
2. Photo showing three lenses side-by-side: the Nikkor 105mm VR, the 60mm AF-S Micro-Nikkor lens, and the Nikon 16-85mm.
3. Some of the photos in the test gallery are available as full-sized downloads. The images are JPEG files which were converted from RAW (NEF) files in Nikon Capture NX.
4. Links to full-sized Nikon D300 shots of document comparing sharpness and DOF (depth of field) of the old (AF for short) and new Nikon 60mm (AF-S for short) lenses:
   - AF @ aperture: f/3, f/5.6, f/11, f/22, f/32.
   - AF-S @ aperture: f/3, f/5.6, f/11, f/22, f/32.
   I'm particularly impressed with the f/22 comparisons. I used to routinely shoot bug macros with my Nikon 105mm VR lens at f/22, hence my interest in this particular aperture value, and it's quite apparent that the new 60mm lens outperforms the old one at this aperture value in terms of sharpness across the frame, more so in the edges and corners.
5. Flare and ghosting comparison: Andreas notes that the new 60mm lens controls flare much better, but has more ghosting than the older lens. Note the amount of flare around the light source and ghosting in the lower left hand area of the picture taken with the new 60mm lens:
   - Aperture @ f/2.8: AF vs. AF-S
   - Aperture @ f/11: AF vs. AF-S
6. Two full-sized photos (photo #1, photo #2) to test the AF-S 60mm's performance at f/8 for landscape-style photos of subjects at a distance. I think the sharpness and detail captured are fantastic.
   

7. Two sets of bokeh comparisons. Note that the aperture for the AF-S lens is at f/2.8 while the aperture of the older lens is at f/3.2. I'm not too sure why the aperture values are different, but as far as these images go, the bokeh on the newer 60mm is definitely more pleasing and smoother.
   - Set 1, AF vs. AF-S.
   - Set 2, AF vs. AF-S

A bit more on the subject of flare in Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S photos

grrrega likes the new Nikon 60mm macro lens, but finds that visible flare in images is a problem. Nevertheless, the lens is great to hold, has great AF (autofocus), captures a lot of detail, and is sharp regardless of whether the subject is near or far.

Image samples

Full-sized samples at LensBuyersGuide.com

This page at LensBuyersGuide.com has a number of full-sized Nikon 60mm f/2.8G AF-S images for download.

I like that the gallery has samples of architecture photography as it seems that the 60mm AF-S lens is able to capture sharp details of subjects at distance, even at full-open aperture of f/2.8.

PBase.com

Check out the AF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro lens page at PBase.com. You'll need to hit our browser refresh button to bring up the next set of random photos.

Resources

Nikon 60mm Macro lens wins award

Nikon UK picked up five Amateur Photographer Awards for the year 2008, and the 60mm f/2.8G AF-S macro lens was one of the products to win:

Finally, the 60mm F2.8G ED AF-S MICRO NIKKOR won the ‘Fixed Focal Length of the Year’, being described as “a first-class optic with outstanding performance right across its focus range” by Amateur Photographer’s Photo Science Expert Geoffrey Crawley.

Press release and specifications

I like the version presented at DPReview.com.

Official sites

Official site at NikonUSA.com – key features, technical specifications and acessories.

Official site at NikonImaging.com – MTF chart and a lens construction diagram.