This is a very nice lens, which works both as a 60mm lens (35mm equivalent) and a true 1:1 macro lens.
I bought this on a bit of a whim. It was listed online for a good price, I put in a bid, and ended up winning it. That was not really planned, but I am glad I now have it.
I’ve never truly done any macrophotography, and I find it very exciting to walk around the garden and the woods with this lens. I have no real interest in photographing insects, but flowers, mushrooms and other things are fun to shoot.
This is not a lens for you if you like fast action. No macro photography is fast, I guess, but this lens is slow to autofocus at any distance. It should work fine as a portrait lens, but, again, slow focu
You can help the slow focus a bit by flipping a switch on the lens, depending on if you’re doing macro or normal photography.
When it comes to sharpness, most reviews say it’s really sharp in the center already at f/2.8, but with quite some vignetting. I can’t really say I’ve seen much of the vignetting, but I’d agree that it is really sharp.
Also, like many others have pointed out, if you are really serious about macro, this is probably not the lens for you. To get to the 1:1 scale (which is the definition of macro), you are just a few centimeters in front of the lens, which means blocking light is a real issue. And if you want to shoot insects, they probably run away before you catch them. You’d be better off looking at a macro lens with longer focal length to add some distance.
The lens hood is a good idea so you don’t the front glass into something accidentally.
But if you want a combo of a good universal walk around lens, and a macro lens, this is a good choice.
All photos taken with the Nikon D5500 and the Nikon 40mm f/2.8.
