Nikon AF-S DX Micro-NIKKOR 40mm f/2.8G Close-up Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras

I'm an all around photographer whose interest is in photographing whatever captures my eye. It could be portraits, landscapes, florals, art, and wildlife. For the last year or so, I've been interested in getting a macro lens for my Nikon D7000. I've read many reviews on the Nikkor 40mm Micro and decided to give it a try. The price was within my budget. I ordered this lens two weeks ago and have been using it non-stop with wonderful results. I've set aside my 18-200mm, 35mm, and 50mm lens. That's how good this 40mm lens is. I received this micro lens in time to capture the early Spring flowers. This 40mm micro lens does a great job capturing close-ups of flowers and plants. My pictures are coming out sharp and clear. Do you hear a "wow" from me? I have taken a close-up picture of my Citizen watch with no flash. Another wow! I've included a picture in the gallery. This lens also does a great job in capturing non-macro shots. I've used this lens indoors with no flash and have captured some amazing low-light pictures. Yep, another wow! There is no VR on this lens. Not necessary to have as this lens is lightweight and with much practice, hand held shots are easy to take. For low-light photography, I do recommend using a monopod or tripod with this lens. Reality check: you can only hand hold a camera for so long before you get some camera shake and resulting blurred pictures. As I get older, I've come to the realization that I can no longer hold the camera perfectly still. For macro shots, I primarily shoot in Aperture mode. I've found my sweet spot to be around f/4 and f/8. For normal shots, I tend to switch between Program and Aperture modes. I use the included lens hood 100% of the time. Within the first few hours of using this lens, I accidently bumped the front lens against the door. Good thing I had my hood on. Lesson well learned. Need proof? I have posted two floral pictures (Pink dogwood and helleborous) along with the photo of my watch in the photo gallery. Seeing is believing. This is a great fixed lens that does double duty for macro and normal shots. I'm glad I trusted the reviews and my instinct and purchased this incredible lens. ** Update 06/16/12 ** This lens has been on my D7k for last several weeks. I've added another picture of a spider on a yellow daylily. It should be on page 6 in the gallery. For this picture I used my compact SB-400 flash as the picture was taken during the late evening hours. I'm enjoying this lens!

Many forum threads have pondered whether to choose the 40mm micro of the 35mm 1.8. I have owned both, used them extensively and can safely conclude that the 40mm micro/macro is the better all-around lens. It can do most the 35 can do, but offers the added bonus of macro and superior sharpness and resistance to chromatic aberration. Here are the pros of the 35mm 1.8 - affordable prime lens - fast 1.8 aperture makes it potentially wonderful for indoor and low-light shots when flash is not available or permitted - extremely sharp if you get a good copy (I've owned two copies. One was tack sharp all the way down to f/1.8. The other had a lot of chromatic aberration and purple fringing wide open). - great starter lens for a photo class Here are the cons of the 35mm 1.8 - purple fringing wide open - blurry wide open (what's the point of 1.8 if you can't use it?) - lens hood is way too small - build quality is plasticky (but this applies to 40mm micro as well) Here are the pros of the 40mm micro - A great lens for amateur food photography (at the actual restaurant/kitchen with actual food) - Nikon's most affordable macro lens - f/2.8 aperture is still very good for general photography - Macro feature works like a charm - Lens is lightweight enough that you can get away with handheld shots - 40mm focal length (60mm on full-frame) makes it good for product photography of larger objects - has focus limiter switch to disable macro and speed up autofocus - great manual focus feel Here are the cons of the 40mm micro - autofocus hunts more than a regular af-s lens - you're way too close to subject if you want 1:1 magnification (where 24mm wide object fills length of frame) - Max aperture is f/4.4 at 1:1, but that's normal for all macro lenses Because both lenses produce the equivalent of 52/60mm on a film camera, neither is appropriate for head & shoulder portraits, unless you shoot in landscape orientation. Both are great for full body or waist-up portraits. I like shooting up close, so I think you can fit a maximum of two or three people in the shot with these lenses. I would go wider for group photos. Overall, though, I would choose the 40mm macro lens. It's sharper overall, focus is pretty fast (even when it hunts), and has the added value of close-focus/macro ability. Great for food & product photos.

This is a very nice lens overall. It is very compact and lightweight, and the image quality is excellent. Unfortunately, the focal length is a bit short to make it truly useful as a macro lens. I give the lens 4 stars for general use but am deducting one star for fitness as a macro lens.

Lens does just what I hoped it would do. Razor sharp images, excellent close up portraits, fantastic Macro capability. It's small, light and auto focus is quick enough to get the photos I am after. Typical NIKON quality and construction. Very happy with this lens so far!! Hope this helps - Bill.....

I am an amateur, hobbyist nature photographer and I have been looking for a macro lens with a reasonable price tag (as a grad student I cannot afford the $700-1500+ lenses). I'll break this down into pros and cons, though the only cons are really just inconveniences; this lens can produce flawless images. Pros: -Tack sharp images, especially with stabilization (tripod + remote, etc) -Manual focus is smooth and works well (good for me because I do a lot of focus stacking) -Works well for macro and landscape (granted these won't be wide-angle landscape shots) -Fantastic for waterfall photography -PRICE!! Cons: -No VR - may need to crank up ISO especially for handheld macro such as flowers, bugs, etc (or get creative with a tripod, rest the camera on a rock, etc) -40mm and need to be close to subject for 1:1 macro, can cause issues with blocking sunlight (depending on the angle you're shooting from) or scaring away the more skittish insects (butterflies); still, if you're sneaky enough and strategic with lighting it can produce great macro images I got this for macro (105mm too expensive for me) but the first time I used it was to photograph waterfalls. It worked perfectly for this! I'm also finding that I'm taking quite a few nice landscape pictures as well. Overall a really high quality lens. Perfect step up from the kit lens in terms of image quality.

Im a newbie to DSLR's. I finally gave in when my Nikon FM2 bit the dust. Been shooting flim since I can remember so I'm not new to photography, just the principples of digital. This is my first (and won't be the last) prime lens for my D3300. This far outshines the two kit lenses. You can feel just by picking it up that it's a better build. I've only been messing around with it this afternoon but I can immediately see the potential. I was having a hard time deciding between the 35mm and 50 mm f1.8 Nikon prime lenses when I came across this little gem. It's roughly $100 to $80 more but it does macro, yhe other two don't. This will be my primary lens untill my 35mm f1.8 arrives. Nice and sharp, guick auto focus, DX format, good depth of field, 250 bucks! I recommend this lens to all the DX users out there, you won't be disappointed.

I was certain I was going to be devastated when my item arrived today. The box was completely smashed and I just knew the lens was crushed too. Thankfully the sender had wrapped the lens pretty securely and all seemed well! I’ve already started playing around with the lens - I must say, it is pretty incredible compared to my regular degular lens. It’s very crisp and easy to use. It fit my D3200 like a glove. I’m so happy with this purchase and I can’t wait to use it more!

As an amateur photographer .. I was comparing the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 .. the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and the Nikon 40mm f/2.8. The Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras is 200$ .. Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S NIKKOR Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras is 210$ and this Nikon 40mm is 280 $. The apretures as you see are better in all other lenses compared and they're also cheaper .. but i chosed this one though .. because actually if you want a "bokeh-licious" lens only for portrait (35mm and 50mm) you're wasting money because it doesn't feature macro .. so you're adding 60$ and adding the best focusing range in all nikon lenses . as no lens focuses closer than 0.163cm. I tried this lens in all condition .. ( weddings , birthdays , macro "flowers" , portrait , street photography etc.)and here are my notes: WEDDINGS: - as you need a wide-angle in wedding for the bride and groom this lens isn't perfect .. but it's perfect when capturing moments for it's fitting focal length and its apreture .. like with their best friends dancing or the guests . It's also light-weight so it fits perfectly for wedding and to complete the wedding arsenal .. i recommend the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Macro Lens for Nikon DSLR .. only 200$ BIRTHDAYS: - if this birthday is a business (you're not invited) .. this lens is perfect for everything .. because if you're sitting with them on the table .. this isn't perfect. MACRO: -as a macro lens i ONLY recommend this and the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens and the price difference is huge .. and this is in a category and the other one is another category. Its focus is a little bit annoying because it changes every mini-second .. so you can fix this by pressing the AE-L button .. when reaching the desired focus . PORTRAIT: - Its bokeh is closing the case .... PORTRAITS ARE VERY NICE .. WITH A VERY NICE BOKEH. I highly reccomend this Lens to ANYONE