Amazing clarity, ultra forgiving and robust lens. Highly recommended.

[Varian]

Want to see in fantastic clarity details of insects, plants or anything else you can imagine to take a beautiful close up photo, then this lens is for you. I am currently using it on my D80 and soon on my new D7000, both DX giving me 157.5mm assisted by VRII (VR version 2, claimed 4 stops). With this level of zoom moving around by hand (no tripod or monopod) to get in close and flexible to that insect, flower or other interesting object, the vibration reduction is amazing. I read several reviews stating that VR is not the effective with macro (micro, whatever) photography. I would argue that it is very useful even if it only makes a slight difference. But then, I have also used this lens for gorgeous portrait shots, product photography (including my brothers fine detailed painted games workshop miniatures) and even an interesting landscape shot (hard to explain, but why not?). This is where combination VR with a prime lens shows its power. If I am this amazed with the lens on my D80, just imagine what it can do on your camera. I was previously looking at the 85mm micro VR, still a great lens but just not as amazing as this one - especially when I enjoy checking out those details of life that you just cannot see with your naked eye.

Problems:

My 105mm Micro focus hunts (not sure what this is called) more than I expected. This is the ONLY reason I gave this 4.5/5 and not 5/5 stars (really should be 4.9/5 stars). However, if you think about it, how often would you use auto focus with this lens? (actually, I still do, but only a quick focus shift when changing from close to distant objects, then I take over with manual focus anyway).