Introduction
The Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D is an iconic lens initially launched in 1997 for Nikon’s F-mount SLRs. It is among the solely macro lenses that can be able to zooming, and Nikon by no means launched a real follow-up to this lens, so it holds a singular place within the macro images world.
This is among the uncommon instances that Nikon calls a lens “micro” regardless that it doesn’t attain true 1:1 magnification. As a substitute, the lens maxes out at 1:1.32 magnification (0.73x), which continues to be fairly excessive. For context, true 1:1 macro lenses can fill a photograph (on a full-frame digital camera) with an object that’s 36 millimeters huge; in the meantime, this lens can fill the photograph with an object that’s 47 millimeters huge. If you wish to get full life-size magnification with this lens, you’ll want to make use of extra instruments to take action, equivalent to extension tubes or a close-up filter just like the outdated Nikon 6T.
Though the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D is an fascinating lens, it isn’t an apparent alternative for macro images as we speak. A number of time has handed since this lens appeared available on the market, and as we speak’s photographers have many choices for close-up lenses. Even in order for you a zoom for close-up images, lenses just like the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 S and Nikon Z 70-180mm f/2.8 focus very carefully in their very own proper – not removed from what you may get from the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D. (See my article Nikon’s Secret Macro Lens for extra.)
Then there’s the matter of autofocus. This lens can autofocus on sure cameras, however not all of them. For instance, it gained’t autofocus on mirrorless cameras utilizing Nikon’s FTZ or FTZ II adapters. It additionally gained’t autofocus on any of Nikon’s cheaper DSLR or SLR cameras that lack a focusing motor, just like the D3000 and D5000 collection cameras.
All of this makes it a really area of interest lens, much more so than the AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D that I reviewed right here earlier this yr. At the least that lens has the excellence of being the longest true macro lens that Nikon has ever made, reaching 1:1 magnification at 200mm. The 200mm f/4D additionally has higher picture high quality than the 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, so it’s held up a bit of stronger over time.
However regardless of the narrower use case of the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D as we speak, I used to be very excited when one in every of our readers supplied to lend me his copy to check it. As somebody who started my photographic journey by capturing macro and close-ups, this lens all the time felt legendary to me, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get an opportunity to make use of it. I’m joyful that I did! At this time, I’ll share the outcomes from the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D with you, together with the way it performs each within the area and within the lab. Learn on to seek out out if this lens is smart for you.
Construct High quality
The AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D appears and feels very totally different from fashionable lenses. The steel barrel makes use of Nikon’s speckled black paint, a staple on the time that was phased out within the early 2000s. It offers the lens nearly a shimmering matte high quality, and paired with different quirks of the lens’s design, it actually stands out in comparison with most glass as we speak.
This lens’s dimensions are fairly skinny, but it surely’s reasonably heavy at 990 grams / 2.2 kilos. It has a small 62mm filter thread and – maybe surprisingly – a tripod foot. You possibly can see beneath that it doesn’t look misplaced on the comparatively small Nikon D7000 DSLR:
Nikon doesn’t specify climate sealing on the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, and I wouldn’t advocate utilizing it in hostile climate. Whereas it’s true that this lens zooms internally, it truly focuses externally! That’s one thing you gained’t see fairly often today – a lens with inside zoom however exterior focus. The interior barrel feels prefer it’s product of plastic fairly than steel.
Now let’s cowl the dealing with options of the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D.
Dealing with
The AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D handles superb, but it surely’s hardly excellent. My greatest grievance in regards to the dealing with is that the lens doesn’t assist guide focus override when set to autofocus. If the lens is ready to autofocus, its focusing ring is totally locked and doesn’t flip in both path! So, if you wish to focus manually with this lens, you must push the button on the M-A hoop after which rotate the ring. This isn’t the smoothest course of – I’d enormously desire a full-time guide focus override like now we have on Nikon’s present lenses. Additionally, some customers have reported the M-A hoop failing over time, and Nikon is now not in a position to service it.
The opposite dealing with options of the lens are fairly slim, however there’s at the very least a devoted aperture ring and an autofocus limiter swap. Given the discharge date of this lens, it doesn’t have a few of Nikon’s later options like vibration discount and newer kinds of lens coatings. On Nikon Z cameras, you’ll nonetheless get in-body picture stabilization with this lens, in addition to options like focus peaking within the viewfinder.
Specs
- Full Identify: Nikon AF Zoom-Micro Nikkor ED 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D
- Mount Kind: Nikon F Mount
- Focal Size: 70-180mm zoom (2.6× zoom)
- Angle of View (FX): 34°20′ to 13°40′
- Most Aperture: f/4.5-5.6
- Minimal Aperture: f/32-40
- Aperture Blades: 9
- Filter Measurement: 62mm
- Lens Parts: 18
- Lens Teams: 14
- Particular Parts: 1 ED glass
- Tremendous Built-in Coating: Sure
- Fluorine Coated Entrance Ingredient: No
- Digital Diaphragm: No
- Vibration Discount: No
- Inside Zooming: Sure
- Inside Focusing: No
- Management Rings: Zoom, focus, and aperture
- Operate Buttons: No
- Switches: M-A and focus limiter
- Focus Motor: None (screw drive, pushed by digital camera)
- Minimal Focus Distance: 370 mm (14 inches)
- Working Distance: 120 mm (4.7 inches)
- Most Magnification: 0.76× (1:1.32) at 180mm; 0.31× (1:3.2) at 70mm
- Mount Materials: Metallic
- Climate/Mud Sealing: Not specified
- Dimensions (Size × Diameter): 175 × 75 mm (6.9 × 3.0 inches)
- Weight: 990 g (2.2 lbs)
- Present worth: Lower than $400 used (verify present worth – eBay Associate Program hyperlink)
Nikon has an fascinating article on their Thousand and One Nights weblog in regards to the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, which you’ll be able to view right here. The article covers the design and thought course of behind the lens and is nicely price a learn!
The following web page of this assessment covers the optical traits of the AF Micro-Nikkor 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6D, together with focusing efficiency and sharpness checks within the lab. So, click on the menu beneath to go to “Optical Efficiency”: