< Month Intro

Next >

Nikon recently introduced a new 105 F2.8 micro lens with silent focus (AFS), vibration reduction (VR), low dispersion glass, and some exotic lens coatings.  Most of the photo review sites were not enthusiastic about this lens so I had to buy one.  (They all missed the point on what this lens is about.)

Having worked with many micro lenses over the years, sharpness comes with a steady tripod and critical manual focus.  This new lens makes it possible to take acceptable images without a tripod while using auto focus.  Remember, the depth of field in the macro range is really narrow resulting in a large number of mis-focused images.  This image would have been much more difficult to capture with my non AFS, non VR micro lenses.

Shooting flying bees requires a little luck and lots of frames, most deleted immediately.  The traditional approach is to set up a tripod and set the camera to shoot anything that comes into focus.  I used the idiot's approach of chasing bees from flower to flower.  Odd looking but much more fun.

To view additional images, click here.