Nikon 60mm/f2.8 macro

in article <>, (John Hoford) says:

No, I LIKE this feature a lot. I switch to manual focus on the lens
and leave my camera in AF, thus when I switch lenses I don't have to worry
about forgetting to change the camera back to AF.

Jeff Wolford uunet!cpqhou!jww
Compaq Computer Corp
(713) 374-9465
--
Jeff Wolford uunet!cpqhou!jww
Compaq Computer Corp
(713) 374-9465

It will, umm, blow the $*&(&$ doors off the 35-70.

I don't know, but lots of people on the net have said great things about
it. I have one and like it very much. Even on 4x6 prints it seems
sharper than my 50mm f/1.8 "normal" lens, but I have not done any
controlled tests.

Yes. But there is one drawback. The focussing is extremely sensitive.
1/4 of an inch on the circumferance of the focusing ring (in manual
mode) moves it from infinity to 2 feet. On the 50mm f/1.8 this takes
about half a turn. In auto mode, this takes 1/2 turn of the screw,
while on the 50mm it takes 6 turns. However, the AF on an 8008 seems
up to it.

Again, no formal test, but it seems fine to me.

As I said, it seems sharper to me than the 50 f/1.8 in general use. But
I've never done a real test. I don't know about the other lens.

For readers who don't own one, there is a rotating lever on the 8008
body that retracts the screwdriver-like blade of the focus moter from
the screwdriver-like slot on the back of the lens. This is the only way
to select manual vs. auto focus on most Nikon AF lenses. But the 60mm
MicroNikkor also as a control on the lens itself. In the AF mode, the
focusing ring on the lens is disengaged. In the manual mode, the AF
screwdriver-like thing is disengaged. The complaint here is that if you
put the lens in auto (expecting focusing via the screwdriver-like slot)
and the camera body in manual, disengaging the screwdriver-like stuff,
that the focusing will drift.

I've never experienced this, but then I haven't really tried it either.

-- David Jacobson