Is w/60mm MACRO suitable for street photography?

[sohyp]

Anyone faced this issue with 60mm MACRO when you are using it for street photography? It seem that it is not as sharp when I compare with my 80-200 F2.8.

Auto-Focusing seems to be a problem as it may swing all the way to the end and back, losing precious time for the critical shot.

[Ian]

Micro Nikkors are generally optimised for short focus distances and tend to be soft at longer distances, the exact amount of softness varies from lens to lens and also from model to model.

The AF speed on the 60mm AF Micro Nikkor's is very slow to start with, so there's no surprises there.

[Kho King]

I used it to shoot portrait of my newphew, very sharp and I can count the hairs!

There is a AF focus limiter on the lens, try swith it not to focus into macro mode when you shoot street.

[mpenza]

the body used might be a factor too. a body equipped with a faster focussing module might reduce the lag.

[Andy Ho]

When used on my D2X the auto focusing reacts very fast. On my D100, it is slower and at times misses focus. Overall, I would say this is a very good lens to have. I love the sharpness when the focus is spot on.

[surge]

use it all the time....first nikkor i own and now still keep. the lens has a very short focus throw and focus very fast even at low light....that is provide that that you are shooting at subjs about 2m above all the time. ( thus avoid going to 0.19 where lens will be dam slow to move from one end to the other.)

its a good street lens as it also you to go really close when you want to capture details.

prefer it to 50/1.8 as the focusing dont turn when focusing and the lens barrel is easier to grap

[sohyp]

Thanks for all the expert advice so far. At least it seems that I have not made the wrong choice. I mean it does a great job for Macro, just that I wanna 'squeeze' more out of this lense

Anyway, will try to experiment again based on your precious feedback.

[surge]

try looking for strong lines that will help the camera focus in the same focus plane, that will help same a lot of focus time and shoot faster. its a habit...once get use to it wil be second nature

[iso100]

60micro is sharp but the boken is not that good for portrait.
To speed up the focus speed, you have to use the limit function which limits the focus range.

[keany]

Originally Posted by iso100 60micro is sharp but the boken is not that good for portrait. To speed up the focus speed, you have to use the limit function which limits the focus range.

[gomobile]

I tried using it out doors with D70 and t is slow to focus, but still not to bad. Bbut If I'm not mistaken it's equivelent to 90mm on D70 yah?

[ExplorerZ]

Originally Posted by gomobile I tried using it out doors with D70 and t is slow to focus, but still not to bad. Bbut If I'm not mistaken it's equivelent to 90mm on D70 yah?

yes it is equiv to 90mm for all Nikon dSLR (1.5x crop)

[zac08]

Originally Posted by iso100 60micro is sharp but the boken is not that good for portrait. To speed up the focus speed, you have to use the limit function which limits the focus range.

You dun speed up the focusing speed.. But rather, you prevent the hunt from being lengthened... The focusing mechanism still works at the same rate, only time is shortened by a smaller hunting field.


Cheers,

[gomobile]

Also, I realise it's not constant 2.8

So will not get the nice blur back ground effect.

[iso100]

Originally Posted by gomobile I tried using it out doors with D70 and t is slow to focus, but still not to bad. Bbut If I'm not mistaken it's equivelent to 90mm on D70 yah?

it is still a 60mm lens. only the picture angle is equivalent to a 90mm lens on a 35mm SLR.
you don't get extra boken...

[iso100]

Originally Posted by zac08 You dun speed up the focusing speed.. But rather, you prevent the hunt from being lengthened... The focusing mechanism still works at the same rate, only time is shortened by a smaller hunting field. Cheers,

Oh, yup. More accurate.
Same speed, but rotate less angles. The focus time is reduced.

[zac08]

Originally Posted by gomobile Also, I realise it's not constant 2.8 So will not get the nice blur back ground effect.

True it's not constant f2.8... but if you are using it for portrait, then where got difference??

It only changes to f3.2 at 1m and f3.5 at 0.3m... I dun think your subject will be under 2m in distance from you right?? Even so, you only lose a lil bit of the f stop...

The only difference will come in only when you focus very close, i.e. f5 at 0.219m

[gomobile]

I c, thanks for the info. hahaha, cause i shoot close ups on this lens more than portrait.

In fact when shooting food shots I find myself using tamron constant 2.8 28-75 more for that cool soft background effect. Only smaller items I use 60mm nikkor.

And yes, shooting faces can count pores. very sharp.

[surge]

Originally Posted by gomobile Also, I realise it's not constant 2.8 So will not get the nice blur back ground effect.

look to the bright side, when you get closer you depth of field decrease quite drastically, you now have a lens that auto increase aperture to give more DOF when you getr nearer...cool!

you want more blur just choose a setting that the background is some distance from the subj.....for a portrait, even a 5.6 will give you good bokeh

[sohyp]

Originally Posted by gomobile Also, I realise it's not constant 2.8 So will not get the nice blur back ground effect.

Well, look on the bright side. This is the first time I can use F-stop 45!!! Sharp from front to back