Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Lens

In recent months, I’ve found myself in a creative rut, and I’ve been looking for ways to shake up my photography. While it’s true that buying new gear won’t make you into a better photographer, sometimes different gear opens up new avenues to explore.

I’ve always been curious about the Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens ever since I first encountered it on a page in an early to mid-1960s Nikon sales brochure entitled “Nikon For Flexibility & Versatility” a while back.

Although I was intrigued, it never really rose to the level where I put much priority on getting an example of one. Other things seemed to have more importance.

That feeling changed when I found a specimen in excellent cosmetic, mechanical, and optical condition for a great price. For completeness, I also managed to find an M-type extension ring, also relatively inexpensive and in great condition. Both pieces seemed to have sat in someone’s photography gear collection mostly unused.

I’m glad I got a hold of both because they have opened up a whole new world of macrophotography to me.

Yesterday I went out and about to take a few test shots with the lens adapted to my Canon EOS M50.

Here’s the same image but cropped at 100% quality:

Even when I used it handheld, I was really impressed with the sharpness that this lens delivers.

For the following two shots of a dandelion, I changed focus from the forward edges of the flower to deeper inside it:

Looking for a bit more depth of field without having to slow down my shutter speed or resort to a higher ISO setting too much, I changed my aperture to f/5.6 for this shot:

I was curious to see how the bokeh looked when I snapped this shot of a group of bamboo stalks with my aperture wide open at f/3.5—as you can see, that bokeh looks nice and smooth:

Here’s the same image but cropped at 100% quality:

I can’t see much if any color fringing—again, excellent performance.

I’ve read that the Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens also makes a great general walkaround lens, and my own experience confirms this.

I’m excited to use this lens more often both adapted to my digital mirrorless camera and as it was designed to be used on my Nikon F.