Nikon 60mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor tested!

I try this older AF macro lens from Nikon and find it a super sharp performer
but with some slight issues for use on mirrorless cameras.
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[@kennygo8300]

Christmas greetings from Texas! A really nice review. I found your channel, searching for videos about this lens. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this video. I plan on using it on my D7200. I believe it will work out fine. It seems, everyone that has one, really likes it. I'm a new subscriber. Thanks again.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Welcome aboard :-) we've just had Christmas dinner so greetings back at you from London. You'll love the lens ... that swan image shown in the video is mind blowing in person. Enjoy 🙂

[@photorockbar471]

We use the Nikon 60mm 2.8 often. Very sharp. For macro you will need to use a tripod as the focusing can get out of focus easily. We use the digital zoom focusing feature to nail the focusing area. You can also get a similar macro image with a 50mm lens combined with a +1 close-up filter. Comparing images from both setups yields almost identical images.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Thanks for the comment 🙂 Interesting - I would tend to use a 50mm with a reversing ring, then you don't have to use a close up dioptre - and you can pop in an extension tube to get even closer. I'd always recommend a tripod for macro - unless it's for bugs in the wild - then electronic flash to freeze the motion and allow lots of stopping down. I'll do a side by side of 50mm reversed v 60mm macro at some point if folks are interested.

[@jamesspicewilliams8835]

Agree with your assessment. I’m finding that using lenses and bodies as the manufacturer intended has given me a better experience. I am intrigued by micro lenses though. Shooting the subject off center and watching the bokeh has me hooked.

[@CarlyWaarly]

There is a lot of hype going around about the Viogtlander 58mm 1.4 lens, so we purchased it and did a comparison with this 60. It was hoped that the 58 would outshine the 60 but it was of disappointment to find it was negligible and the Macro was a a few pixels better (that is how close it was) We returned the 58 as we could not justify it's purchase when this Macro was not outclassed. We purchased the 60 off Ebay mint condition boxed for £170 so keep your eyes peeled and only go for mint boxed items. We did the tests with a D850.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Yep, it's very much my yardstick for sharpness - a glorious lens. All my DSLR negative scanning is now done through it!

[@user-hj4xr2qi1z]

Hello! Thanks for the review. AF Nikkor 60/2.8D is a very good lens. Many people say that it is worse than its "big brother" AF Nikkor 105/2.8D, but I think that they are both excellent. Sharpness, contrast, color reproduction, workmanship - all at a very high level. I agree with you that bokeh quality suffers a little, but that's my only gripe. After all, this is a macro lens, not a portrait lens. Sometimes you can find chromatic aberrations in the pictures, but I shoot either digitally or black and white film (rarely, now even left without a film camera), so this is not a problem for me. I have had many good macro lenses including the APO Lanthar Voigtlander 125/2.5 Macro, it is a true apochromat with excellent bokeh and amazing color. But I found that both Nikkors (60 and 105) are sharper and more contrast! However, they are much cheaper and easier to find in the secondary market. Even compared to such a legendary monster, the Nikkor has its strengths... and even autofocus ;) Good old Nikkor.

[@ashsphotolounge]

And it's only a bit bigger and heavier (if indeed it is) than a 'standard zoom' lens! My compliment is that all my Leica IIIb shots are 'scanned' using the 60mm Nikkor and my Sony A7 ... there's no other lens I'd trust

[@5244Barry]

Just bought an immaculate copy of this lens for £199. It is brilliant for macro and as a walkabout lens with my Nikon D2x. I shudder to thing what an equivalent Z lens would have cost for my Z7. Love to see how you fare with your F4.

[@ashsphotolounge]

My F4 is pretty much my constant companion at the moment - often equipped with the 60mm! I have to admit the F4 is streets ahead the finest 35mm SLR I've ever used - and combined with the 60mm macro it's totally addictive!

[@thinkinginpictures4071]

It's funny you should mention how nice the reds are rendered. I agree and was just taking pictures of roses today while noting the nice color. The older CCD Nikons with D series lenses just have beautiful color, especially reds. I like both the G and D series lenses but the D's are special, IMO. Have used D series on D700, D500 and D7500 and D70s. All produce beautiful pictures. I also use my Nikon lenses on an A7II....but I do prefer to use them on Nikon bodies. Great video by the way.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Thanks for the comment 🙂

[@ikindalikebowie]

Hey there! I've stumbled across your video because i was looking for some info on this lens. I see you also shoot on Film? I'm asking I just got a TLR from 1933 and took/developed some images on it the past couple days. Now I'm looking for a good lens to "scan" the negatives with. At the moment I use my phone for that... but I was thinking a really sharp macro lens like this paired with a used d3400 would be pretty unbeatable for the price (~350 €). What is your opinion on this? You think I could get good detail and fill the frame with some 6x6 negatives with a setup like that? Cheers!

[@ashsphotolounge]

Absolutely - and the 60mm is probably the best lens I've tried for this sort of thing. If you have Photoshop you can even take three or four sections and let Photoshop stitch them into a complete image ... you will end up with amazing high resolution scans.

[@Cotictimmy]

Because it is ‘chipped’ for screw-drive AFD, it will manual focus with the red focus box turning green when converted for Z bodies. It works great with the old 105 AFD Micro - so it should be great with this 60mm too. 😊

[@FotoCreatives]

I'm curious about corner sharpness, distortion and light fall off ?...I miss macro pictures from a flat service for example like a small text in a book, or a coin...I'm interesetd in this lens for scanning negatives so the corners must also be sharp and and preferably no light all-off at f/8 for example. Most (almost all) macro lenses are sharp in the centre) but a few ones are sharp in the entire field (corners). What about that information?

[@ashsphotolounge]

The main thrust of this review was how usable is this lens as an everyday carry ... rather than a scientific bit of kit - however all my 35mm negative scanning is now carried out with this lens - a copy stand and light table. I use it pretty much exclusively at f8 for this, and it's simply the sharpest lens I have personally used - right across the frame. Grain from fast negative films shows off corner softness badly in a copy lens, and this one is superb in this respect. I have noticed no light fall off - nor chromatic aberration on colour work. The 35mm black and white film work in the last 18 months on here has all been done with this lens - which is I think a good testament - but if folks would like a follow up episode to highlight the more exacting uses this brilliant little lens can be put to I'll gladly do that. By only criticism of this lens is that it can flare at it's closer focus distances due to how far the front element 'jacks' forward'. Oh and I wish it were 80 or 90mm to have more subject to front element distance, but you can't have everything.

[@dicklloyd9584]

Thanks for this video. Do you think it would be a suitable portrait lens for use with a Nikon D750 in a studio?

[@ashsphotolounge]

100% yes! Though you may have to calm down its huge sharpness. I've done some portraits with my D800 and have had to filter the results a bit to hide skin flaws!

[@willapanews9761]

The manual focus nikkor 55mm f2.8 and nikkor 55mm f3.5 are better choices to use with cameras that do not have a screw-drive motor to operate the nikkor 60mm f2.8D lenses autofocus.

[@randallstewart175]

The principle shortcoming of the 60mm 2.8 Macro is its focal length. When used at 1:1, you are practically sitting on the subject. Depending on the nature of the subject that may or may not be a disadvantage. The preceding Nikkor macro, the 55mm 2.8, whether manual focus or the fairly rare AF version, is a better optical performer at conventional focus distances, but is slightly inferior to the 60mm when used at macro distances. Between the two, the 55mm makes a better general purpose lens, but either can do the job. After trying many of the lauded macro lenses over the decades, my final acquisition was the last version of the Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro AF, which is an exceptional macro lens. My oddest macro lens is a fairly rare Tamron 300mm 5.6 macro, which gives a very useful setback from the subject and does a surprisingly good job thanks to Tamron's practice of using Nikon's "floating element" optical designs..

[@ashsphotolounge]

To some degree I agree about the focal length. My own preference would probably have been for a 100mm macro of some sort - but for what I use the 60mm it's pretty good - which is either a bit over standard 'walk about' lens - like a 58mm F2 Soviet Helios 44 that cut my photographic teeth on - or as an insanely sharp copy lens for 'digitising' 35mm negatives.

[@chrisreich40]

Fine focusing this lens in the field is most effectively done by moving the camera (and your head) a few millimeters back and forth. Try it, it's very effective.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Yep ... if I'm not on a Tripod that's how I do it :-)

[@raskolnikovnazdravya2619]

İ have this lens and nobody can make me sell it..! My favorite lens, so sharp, so qualified...

[@ashsphotolounge]

Pretty much what I think :-)

[@zaeemology1219]

Can I Shoot Outdoor Photoshoots Of Models ? With This Lens What About Sharpness If I do This?

[@ashsphotolounge]

I would say it's perfect for the job - very sharp so you may even need to dial that back a bit in 'post'.

[@dude157]

it's a great lens. I bought it because I love macro photography, however I found I prefer the tokina 100mm AT-X pro for macro in the field and as such the tokina is the one I use. In my Studio for macro I tend to use enlarger lenses and microscope objectives, so for macro photography it doesn't get much use. That's not to say it's bad, it's really good, it's just the tokina with a raynox 250 makes life so easy in a genre of photography that is quite difficult from a technical standpoint. However while I don't use it for macro, it just happens to be a fantastic lens for product photography, I also adapted it to my crop sensor fuji XT5 and it can render plenty sharp enough for all those Megapixels on a small sensor, which as good as fujifilm lenses are, not all of them can say the same. Cost me £120, pays for itself.

[@ashsphotolounge]

Works great on micro 4/3 too - where at the equivalent of 120mm its super useful.

[@Bagorra]

Is this macro lens of analogic camera ?

[@ashsphotolounge]

Analog or digital it doesn't matter ... I use it on my Nikon D800 and on my Nikon F4

[@thewildgoose7467]

Hi, I also use this lens on the Sony A7 and I've found it to be one of the sharpest lenses there is, producing images capable of making 5 foot prints (if that's your thing). As you say nailing focus manually can be difficult, but isn't that true of any lens with a shallow DOF? I've also used it on my F100 in AF as a walkabout lens and the sharpness of the images is incredible. Mine cost a good bit more than yours (€299) so you got a real bargain, although mine came mint, boxed and with the dedicated lens hood. If you're looking for a longer AF macro I would highly recommend the Tokina AF 100mm macro which is just as sharp as this one.

[@ashsphotolounge]

It makes a fab 120mm macro on a Micro 4/3 camera too :-)

[@emiliedixneuf8228]

Hello. You are testing a lens for macro photography and you show landscape photos or photos that have nothing to do with macro photography! Look for the mistake!

[@ashsphotolounge]

Thank you for your comment. It's a Micro Nikkor, of course it was going to be supremely good at macro. My point is that it is a very good day to day lens as well.

[@Myfreemusictrack]

​@@ashsphotoloungecan this lens work with Nikon d5600?

[@ashsphotolounge]

@@Myfreemusictrack I don't believe the D5600 has a mechanical focus screw, so you would only be able to use in manual focus - and of course there will be a crop factor with what I believe to be with APSc sensor. Otherwise it should work fine.