ELNikkor

both sounds redundant. Get one first, maybe it will be all you need and you can use the money saved on something else

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

The 40 mm DX micro lens could be used as a standard lens and will also do micro work. One important consideration is how close you will need to be to use the 40 mm micro. If, for example, your photographing bees, a 100mm or 200mm micro will move you further away from a potential disaster. But for general micro, the 40 mm offers more diversity than the 35 1.8.

pnittoly Loc: Mountainside, New Jersey

Thanks again all.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Get the Nikon 35mm 1.8 and, if you want to do macro, the Tamron 100mm 2.8 is a great buy at under $400. You will have much more room to work with from lens to subject than with a 40mm macro.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

kpmac offered what I have found to be good advice when it comes to using a lens that gives you more distance from the subject when shooting macro images of live critters in the field. I started with a 60mm which worked great for indoor macro setups but I had to nearly put the lens on the bug when shooting outdoors. I then moved to a 105mm which was much better although still to close for critters that could fly away for it would still spook them. Now I'm shooting macro at 200mm which I find to be quite nice for I get more opportunities to take a shot for the critters feel less threatened such as dragonflies.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

A Nikon 35mm 1.8 and or a 50mm 1,8 Prime Lens might be a added suggestion to your D5600.
I have the D3300 and would like to upgrade to the D5600, waiting for price to come down on New or maybe a used one.
When buying lens any for a Nikon DX format Camera, remember the "Crop Factor" (sensor size), 1.5 x Lens, for Ex. a Nikon 35mm x the Crop factor of 1.5 = a 52mm actual F.O.V.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

if you are thinking at all about a 50mm lens i am going to sell mine...it is a great portrait lens...it is like new...i bought it a few months ago and find that for my type of photography i will rarely if ever use it...its been on the camera twice...it is in like new condition. i will sell it for $145 and ship to you...PM me if you are interested.
Nikon - AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Standard Lens

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

You could use your present 70-300 lens as a "macro" lens. Try it and see if it will fit your purpose. If no VR you should use a tripod. I have even used my old 80-400 VR lens for those type of shots with very pleasant results.
Macro photographers do not like short focal length lenses and I am referring to the 40mm macro lens you have in mind. Working distance is an issue in macro photography and a lens like 90mm (Tamron comes to mind) or 105mm like those made by Nikon for them are a better choice. Those lenses in the second hand market have very attractive prices.
A 35mm lens with your D5600 looks to me like a great combo. That lens with a camera like yours has a field of view pretty similar to that of a 50mm lens with a so called full frame camera. It is fast, reasonably priced, sharp from what I have seen and could be very useful properly used, even in low light.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Think about what want to photograph. Then make decisions.

All the Nikon macro lenses are good. The 40 and 60mm lenses are very good for copying art work. 60mm is a rather good portrait lens as well. The 85mm and 105mm would be considered to be standard macro focal lengths as they give some distance between subject and lens. For high magnification the 60mm might be good also as extension tube length can be shorter.

If a general purpose lens is your goal consider the 16-85 or 16-80 mm lens.

If high aperture (low f number) is desired then the 35mm and 50mm 1.8 lenses are very good. Macro lens have flatter fields and good center and edge sharpness.

So what do you want to photograph. While I have other lenses I find my 18-55mm useful even though it is not my best lens.

Bob Boner

I recommend longer focal lengths for macro. Especially if you want to photograph insects. With the longer focal lengths you are able to focus from farther away. That way you don't frighten the insects away before you get the image. I have 2 that I think are excellent: Sigma 150mm and Canon 180mm f/3.5.

pnittoly Loc: Mountainside, New Jersey

Great suggestions all. Thanks again.

Boris Ekner Loc: From Sweden, living in Guatemala

Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro.
-This is a very sharp but manual lens if your camera doesn’t have a motor in its body. However, manual focus should never be a problem when shooting macro.

ATCurry

How about this approach:
1. Figure out what you want to shoot. Then ask if your current equipment will work. If the answer is no, then you will also discover the reason why the answer is no.
2. Do a little research on what lenses or equipment would solve the problem you discovered. You don't have to become an expert in this area, and there will likely be several options available.
3. One at a time, rent a lens or two (or three!) and use them to do your shoot.. Who knows, you might need a different body as well.
4. Return the equipment when the rental period ends.
5. Process your pictures however you usually do, and evaluate the results.
6 Rinse, repeat.
7. If you find yourself wanting to rent the same lens or equipment a third time, think about buying it. Of course cost is an important consideration at this point.

This process will work whether you are shooting Macro to Milky Way, Birds in Flight to Street Photography. You can experiment and not make costly mistakes.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

In Nikon mount, the Tokina 100mm macro is a motorless "D" type lens.... will not be able to autofocus on a Nikon D3000 or D5000 series camera.... Can only AF on D7000-series and higher models that have a motor in the camera body to drive the AF of those types of lenses.

I agree that manual focus isn't a big deal shooting macro... but if you buy the lens intending to also use it for other, non-macro purposes, you may be disappointed.

There are lots of other good macro lenses that can provide AF.

For example, on an APS-C camera like the original posters a Tamron SP 60mm is a good, dual purpose "Di II/crop only" lens with autofocus. It's also an f/2 lens, at least a full stop faster than most macro (and only 1/3 stop slower than a 50mm f/1.8 or 85mm f/1.8). Plus it's both reasonably compact and internal focusing (doesn't grow longer when focused closer, further reducing working distance, the way many of the more affordable macro lenses do). The only significant short-coming of this lens is that it uses a micro motor which makes for slower AF... it's not up to shooting sports/action, but is fine for macro, portraits and most other purposes. Note: macro lenses in general tend to be slower focusing by design... first, they have to move their focus group a long way to go all the way from infinity to 1:1 magnification.... Second, most use "long throw" focus which emphasizes precision over speed, because shallow depth of field at higher magnifications can make focus accuracy very critical. The Tamron SP 60mm macro sells for about $525 new. I know that's almost double the price of the Nikkor 40mm micro, might be able to find the Tamron for a bit less used.

It is true that longer focal length macro lenses make for more working distance, which can be helpful at times with shy subjects. HOWEVER, the longest macro lenses (150, 180, 200mm) also make for extremely shallow depth of field AND are much harder to hold steady, more likely to require a tripod and less usable for hand held shooting. For both crop sensor and full frame, I recommend a macro lens in the 90, 100, 105mm range as more generally versatile choice. Crop sensor camera users might also consider 60, 70, 85mm macro lenses as more compact alternatives, but focal lengths shorter than those will be difficult to use in the field, leave too little working distance.

ecurb1105

I'm a fan of normal lenses, so I suggest the 35mm to start. I used to do a lot of closeup work with a normal lens and close up filters.
The 40mm Micro Nikkor is great for copy stand work with longer lenses for live subjects.