Micro/Portrait Lens For My Nikon D7000: I am slowly adding to my lens collection to use with my current D7000 and realize I will someday purchase another body. I currently have Nikon...

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

I am slowly adding to my lens collection to use with my current D7000 and realize I will someday purchase another body. I currently have Nikon 35 mm 1.8 and 50 mm 1.4 prime lenses. A Nikon12-24 ultra wide, Nikon 70-300 VRII and the Nikon18-105 that came with the camera. I now have saved about $500.00 to purchase a micro/portrait lens. I would appreciate any advice out there.

Moles Loc: South Carolina

You might consider the 105mm 2.8 micro prime lens. I like mine a lot for close-ups and it's about the right focal length for portraits. It might stretch you budget a little, however.

GKarl wrote:

I am slowly adding to my lens collection to use with my current D7000 and realize I will someday purchase another body. I currently have Nikon 35 mm 1.8 and 50 mm 1.4 prime lenses. A Nikon12-24 ultra wide, Nikon 70-300 VRII and the Nikon18-105 that came with the camera. I now have saved about $500.00 to purchase a micro/portrait lens. I would appreciate any advice out there.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

GKarl wrote:

I am slowly adding to my lens collection to use with my current D7000 and realize I will someday purchase another body. I currently have Nikon 35 mm 1.8 and 50 mm 1.4 prime lenses. A Nikon12-24 ultra wide, Nikon 70-300 VRII and the Nikon18-105 that came with the camera. I now have saved about $500.00 to purchase a micro/portrait lens. I would appreciate any advice out there.

On your crop sensor body I would have to say the best choice would more than likely be the Nikon 85mm F3.5 Micro, best of both worlds, but still slightly long for portaits. My second best suggestion would be the Nikon AF-S 60mm F2.8G Micro as it would provide better portrait length, but the Micro would have a shorter minimum focus distance, not a big issue for still micro shots but may scare off any insects you were trying to get a 1:1 Macro image of.
Good luck.

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

My impression is the 105 mm could be used for portraits even with the DX format. Do you think not?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

GKarl wrote:

My impression is the 105 mm could be used for portraits even with the DX format. Do you think not?

The 105mm on a crop sensor will give you the field of view of a 157.5mm lens, that's awfully long for portraits normally and will require you are quite away back from your subject. The 105 does make a very nice portrait lens on a full frame body.

amehta Loc: Boston

GKarl wrote:

I am slowly adding to my lens collection to use with my current D7000 and realize I will someday purchase another body. I currently have Nikon 35 mm 1.8 and 50 mm 1.4 prime lenses. A Nikon12-24 ultra wide, Nikon 70-300 VRII and the Nikon18-105 that came with the camera. I now have saved about $500.00 to purchase a micro/portrait lens. I would appreciate any advice out there.

A used Nikon AF 105mm f/2.8D Micro should be right in your price range, $400-500, KEH has one in stock.

A 105mm lens should work well for many portraits, and in situations where it is too close, you still have your 50mm lens. Between the two, I think you would be set up very well.

The difference between an 85mm and 105mm lens is insignificant. The advantage of this 105mm macro lens over the 85mm f/3.5mm DX lens is that the 105mm will work on a FX body, if you get one in the future. A macro lens should serve you well for decades, so some long term thinking makes sense.

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

Thank you amenta. I will take a look.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Macro lenses tend to produce extremely sharp images when used correctly. What woman is going to want every blemish showing on a portrait?... Using a macro lens can be done, but why?... I have 6 different macro lenses but don't use any of them for portraits. For that, I'll use my 85mm F1.8 Nikkor...More suited for portraiture, not close up shooting.Use a macro lens & spend more time editing it to achieve the desired result...Whatever you choose, buying used will save you money & KEH will give you a 6 month warranty...

amehta Loc: Boston

Screamin Scott wrote:

Macro lenses tend to produce extremely sharp image... (show quote)

The Nikon 85mm f/1.8 is as sharp as a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro lens, neither is going to "hide" an blemishes. At "portrait" distances, I think both will give comparable results, and of course the macro will also do close-up photography.

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

I enjoy playing around with macro photography and thought if I could get a two in one lens I could afford a better lens. Maybe I should use the 50 mm on my DX camera for portraits and consider another lens for the my limited macro photography . The 85mm 1.8 sounds interesting.

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

I am somewhat apprehensive about buying a used lens I can't look at in person.

amehta Loc: Boston

GKarl wrote:

I am somewhat apprehensive about buying a used lens I can't look at in person.

It's good to be cautious. KEH is very good, though, and they rate their equipment very conservatively, and they have a very flexible return policy. They will also be in Salem, NH next weekend, so maybe you could ask them to bring the lens for you to check out?

GKarl Loc: Northern New Hampshire

Do they have a retail store in Salem?

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

They will have a booth set up at the Photoshop World Conference & Expo this week in Atlanta that I will be attending

amehta Loc: Boston

GKarl wrote:

Do they have a retail store in Salem?

They will be at Cardinal Camera April 10-12 doing a "buying event". I thought they were going to be selling some gear too, but you should check with them if you're interested.