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Nikon’s new 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro lens is the DX equivalent of the popular 60mm/f2.8 AF-S Micro. In Nikon terminology, a micro lens is what we typically call macro lenses for close up photography; for the rest of this review, I’ll use those two terms interchangeably. The 60mm Micro is a flat-field lens that can capture a flat subject and keep the image sharp from edge to edge with little distortion; it is especially suitable for copy work. With the 1.5x “crop factor,” the new 40mm DX lens provides the same angle of view on DX-format DSLRs as the 60mm macro on FX-format SLRs. Both of these lenses are flat field macros and can achieve the 1:1 reproduction ratio native, i.e. without the aid of any extension tube or other attachments.
Accompanying this review, I have an image folder here on photo.net, where I have several images of the 40mm/f2.8 DX Micro lens itself, showing it from different angles, as well as quite a few image samples captured with that lens, on the Nikon D700, D300, and the full FX frame of the D700: Nikon 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro (Macro) Lens
For each image, I am providing my findings under various capture conditions. Please read the technical details for each image for more information. You can find that under the “details” tab for each image in the folder.
Where to Buy
Photo.net’s partners have the 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro lens available. Their prices are fair and purchasing via the link helps to support photo.net.
Similar to several popular small fixed-focal-length lenses such as the 35mm/1.8 DX AF-S, 50mm/f1.4 AF-S, and 50mm/f1.8 AF-S, the new 40mm/f2.8 DX Micro is made by Nikon in China. This lens has a plastic barrel and therefore it is very light; however, the lens mount is metal and there is a rubber gasket around the mount to seal out moisture.
I feel that this type of plastic construction is adequate for these fairly small lenses; some reviewers even consider this type of construction to be very good. But some of those who are accustom to all-metal AI-S lenses in the 1980’s and before may feel that these new plastic lenses are “cheap.”
When focused to infinity, the front element on the 40mm DX Micro is deeply recessed. As you gradually focus closer to 1:1, the front part of the lens barrel extends and the front element simultaneously further extends inside the barrel. At 1:1, the front element is almost on the same plane as the rim of the barrel; there is just a little gap so that if you have a filter on, the front element will not touch it. The rear element does not move at all along with focusing, and it is quite close to the mount so that there is insufficient clearance to mount any Nikon TC-nnE teleconverters.
On the side of the barrel, there are the two typical switches, one for changing from manual focus (M) to auto/manual (M/A). The 40mm/f2.8 DX Micro is a true AF-S lens; that is, you can directly override auto focus without first switching to manual focus. The other switch is the focus limiter, on which you can optionally choose to restrict focusing distance from 0.2 meter to infinity but not any closer.
The focusing distance scale on the lens is quite compressed. Next to infinity, the farthest setting is 0.4 meter/1.5 feet. This lens comes with an HB-61 lens hood and accepts 52mm (diameter) filters. The hood is mounted onto the outer barrel so that when the inner barrel extends for close ups, the hood does not move with it.
Auto Focus Speed
The 50mm/f1.4 AF-S is well knows to have relatively slow AF; apparently its AF is optimized for accuracy rather than speed. The f1.8 version of the 50mm AF-S seems to focus a bit faster and the new 40mm DX Micro is similar. Its AF is not “lighting fast” but adequate.
Optical Performance
Sharpness
Thank to its flat-field design, the 40mm DX Micro is very sharp from corner to corner, similar to most macro lenses. It is both excellent focused to infinity and to close distances. I am quite happy with it wide open at f2.8, but of course most macro work is captured at smaller apertures for more depth of field.
Distortion
Distortion is essentially negligible at both close distance and at infinity. That should be obvious from the “brick wall” and “picture frame” images in my portfolio. Similar to the 60mm/f2.8 AF-S macro lens, this 40mm DX lens is also suitable for copying work, such as books, painting, etc.
Vignetting
Vignetting on distant subjects is minimal even wide open at f2.8. Images with a uniform blue sky in the background merely show a hint of corner darkening that is mostly gone by f4. Under similar conditions, the highly regarded 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S and the 24-120mm/f4 AF-S VR would show serious vignetting at 24mm, wide open.
Chromatic Aberration
Nikon typically uses Extra-Low Dispersion (ED) elements to control chromatic aberration, but the new 40mm DX does not have any ED elements. Some users of this lens notice color fringing, and I can confirm that there is some fringing in light-to-dark transitions in the images. It is not as serious as the chromatic aberration on the 35mm/f1.8 DX AF-S, but it is not as negligible as that from my 17-55mm/f2.8 DX AF-S zoom either. Overall, I don’t think this is a concern.
Flare and Ghosting
I was curious about how the 40mm performs in heavily back lit, sun-inside-the-frame situations. In recent years, Nikon has added nano coating to a lot of their lenses to counter this problem, but the 40mm DX Micro does not have nano coating incorporated. I was happy to find minimal ghosting even the sun is in the frame.
Macro Performance
For both hand held and tripod mounted macro work, the 40mm DX micro performs well. AF-S is snappy and you can manually override it without switching off auto focus. Similar to pretty much all Nikon macro lenses, sharpness is excellent.
However, if you would like to make 1:1 macro images, since the front barrel of this lens extends, there is only a 4cm working distance from the front rim of the lens to the subject at 1:1. If you mount the HB-61 lens hood onto the lens, it would take up another 1cm so that you are left with merely 3cm from the rim of the hood to your subject. With such a short working distance, even though this lens is capable for it optically, it is difficult to use it near 1:1.
Mounted on FX Bodies
While we are not supposed to use DX lenses on the full FX frame, inevitably some people will attempt to do so, and there are usually some claims that it “works” under some conditions. I have mounted to the 40mm/f2.8 DX Micro on my D700 (FX format), and I get totally darkened corners focusing both to infinity and in the macro range. Moreover, as usual, even though the image circle can cover a lot of areas outside of the DX frame, image quality gets very poor towards the edges of FX.
All Nikon FX bodies have the “Auto DX Crop” option such that when a DX lens is mounted, the camera will automatically reduce its capture to the DX area. That is, the 12MP D3, D3S, and D700 will only capture a 5MP image in the center of the frame. This auto crop option can be switched on or off.
35mm/f1.8 DX, 50mm/f1.8 or 40mm/f2.8 Micro
All three of these lenses have AF-S and are priced at the $200+ range. At $200 originally, the 35mm/f1.8 DX AF-S is the least expensive while the 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro is the most expensive. All three are similarly built with good quality.
If your camera comes with either the rather slow 18-55mm or 18-105 DX AF-S VR kit lens, adding the 35mm that is f1.8 would help under indoor, dim light situations. The 50mm/f1.8 is just as fast, but on DX bodies, it is a short tele that is more or less suitable for portrait work. Both of those lenses are very popular.
The 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro is still quite fast compared to those kit lenses. It is a little more specialized for close up work. I would pick this option over the 35mm only if you are somewhat into close up work.
Conclusion
When I first saw the specification for this new 40mm macro lens, I was a bit skeptical. The $279.95 price clearly indicates that it is intended for consumers, those who own D40, D3100, and D5100 type DSLRs. In a lot of ways it is similar to the 60mm/f2.8 AF-S macro that can cover the FX frame. However, unlike the 60mm counterpart, the new 40mm DX lens does not contain higher-end components such as ED elements, aspheric elements, and nano coating. Therefore, I paid special attention to chromatic aberration, distortion, and flare/ghosting on the new lens. I am glad to report that both distortion and flare are very well controlled. There is a some chromatic aberration but it is not as serious as it is on the 35mm/f1.8 DX AF-S.
My main reservation is the fact that it is a 40mm macro lens. To achieve 1:1 live-size reproduction, realistically you cannot have the lens hood on; even so there is still only about 4cm working distance from the front rim of the lens to your subject. Lighting the subject becomes difficult, and it is easy to cast your own shadow or the camera/lens’ shadow on it. This lens is great for more casual close up work, but for anything close to 1:1 or even 1:2, you are much better off using a longer macro lens that provides a more comfortable working distance. In particular, for insect macros, such short working distance will likely disturb your subject. That is why I prefer my Nikon 105mm/f2.8 AF-S VR macro or better yet, the Nikon 200mm/f4 AF-D macro that has a tripod collar for rapid switching between horizontal and vertical compositions.
For casual photographers and semi-serious photographers who would like an affordable lens for some close up work, the new 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro is a surprisingly excellent lens with an unbeatable $279.95 price tag.
Where to Buy
Photo.net’s partners have the 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S Micro lens available. Their prices are fair and purchasing via the link helps to support photo.net.
I expected to hear about Nikon AF-S DX Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR compared with this new DX micro. Unfortunately, 85mm f/3.5G ED VR was not at all mentioned. This review was not at all helpful for me in choosing the DX micro, according to needs, price and lens performance.
40mm DX Macro (top) and 105mm Macro (bottom) both at 1:1 setting
Sorry Laurentiu, the purpose for this article is not to compare macro lenses at different focal lengths. I have only played around with a Nikon 85mm/f3.5 DX macro lens once but never used it extensively. Therefore, I cannot really comment on that lens beyond its specifications.
The more interesting comparison would be with the 60mm/f2.8 AF-S macro lens since this 40mm DX macro is the DX equivalent of that. However, I also do not have a 60mm for serious testing.
Similar to non-macro lenses, the longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view is. The 85mm DX macro would be similar to the 105mm macro as I showed in the following image in my portfolio: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=14156573
To achieve 1:1 macro, if you use the 40mm macro, you only have an extremely short 4cm working distance while if you use a 105mm macro, you have about 14cm.
In other words, a longer macro lens such as the 85mm DX or 105mm are better for smaller objects such as stamps, coins while the 40mm is better for covering a wider area from farther away, such as copying paintings, books, or flower close ups, etc.
This is a very fine test/review, ....you covered most - only one thing I would like to know is the coma-area ?
I have found out, that the 60mmG- AF-S is VERY fine in this area, even on FX, and much better than my 24mm f/1.4, but as you know the 60mm has the aspherical element (2), and this new baby has not !!
In both the conclusion of this review as well as the comparison table above, I mentioned that the 40mm/f2.8 DX AF-S micro has no ED elements, no aspheric elements, and no nano coating while the 60mm/f2.8 AF-S micro has all three.
Recently I bought a 60mm micro and I would certianly confirm that the 60mm is a "better" lens, but it is also about twice as expensive. The 40mm DX micro doesn't quite fit my personal needs since I shoot most macro work with an FX body, but for the price, the 40mm DX micro is a major bargain.
Sorry, I do not understand your post - perhaps there is a lack of communications between us ?
I only ask if you have any knowledge about the coma-area - that is all, .....no hidden agenda here.
Even this 40mm has no nano coating it is OK in the flare/ghosting area, and it perhaps COULD be OK in the coma-area also ? (but perhaps it is to much to ask for ..for such a cheap lens)
I use the 60G on my D3x and on my D7000 ALSO for city-lights for the same reason (nearly coma-free) but I would be interested if the 40mm also performs good here, because that would give me a little more wide on the DX
If you have no knowledge about that, that is of course OK, no hidden agenda here, , but this day I read a lot of reviews/tests of this lens, and as far I could see nobody has testet it for that, or have any comments on that issue, and I was very interested because of the fine way the 60G does this job.
I only recently decided to try this lens as I was looking for a lighter version of my old, excellent 60 mm Micro Nikkor. Based on many positive reviews including the one here I thought I give it a try.
So, today I unpacked the lens and could not believe what I saw!
Like the much older 60mm Micro Nikkor this lens has ONLY a front lens filter thread. This means that the R1C1 Macro Flash can only be attached to the front lens element and not to the barrel of the lens. The weight of several macro flash heads (up to eight possible) is considerable. For the 60 mm Micro Nikkor Nikon therefore provides the more than flimsy UR-5 adapter ring, so that the R1C1 can be attached to the barrel and not the front element of the lens. The new 40 mm DX Macro does not permit this. The R1C1 can ONLY be attached to the front lens, not the barrel. This incurs considerable wear on that extruding and moving front element and essentially means that this new MACRO lens is incompatible with Nikon's own Macro flash. Incredible! How can Nikon produce a new macro lens incompatible with its own macro flash set? This would perhaps not even be so bad if this was a larger focal lens, where working distance permits minute objects to be illuminated quite well even without a flash. However, for a lens with such an extremely short working distance, using a flash to obtain maximum depth of field for macro-photography is almost a must. I was so hopeful that this much lighter lens would replace my now almost antique 60 mm macro. Sadly I can only return it.
