Alright folks it’s time to warm up the Wayback Machine a bit. Ready? Whirrr-ZaM! Ok here we are in the long forgotten time of 1993. I was still working at the camera store but had used my employee discount to get me my first serious camera, a Nikon N90. I had a Minolta, remember them?, with a useful but admittedly crap lens. I knew that the future of photography, and thus my future, lied in equipment that was faster and more flexible than what I had prior. Autofocus was now a useful professional tool and not just an interesting gadget. Film winders were built in and the ability to crank out five frames a second was perfect for the direction that I was heading: news photography. Also the flash system that Nikon came out with was dazzling everyone so that combined with my preference for the Nikon system led me to that N90 which I still have sitting on a shelf under a protective layer of dust.
I knew that I needed a good basic all around lens but it had to be a pro quality piece of glass so I got the Nikon AF-D 35-70 f/2.8 which I knew would do the job. One by one I lovingly took my gear out of their boxes, the body, the zoom, the flash and then I came to my wild card: the AF-D 105mm f/2.8 Micro.
I got the chills looking at it. No that’s not right, I went into a cold sweat. “What was I thinking?!?” I thought. “I’m never gonna use this. The focusing is slow, it’s not much longer than the other lens … I just wasted $700 on this. I’m an idiot!”
Well the truth is that I had a fascination with that lens ever since we got one in the store about a year prior. I would take it out of the case, mount it on a camera and wander about the store in amazement at how things looked at life size magnification. The macro world was, and still is, strange and wonderful. So of course I had to have it but as a budding photojournalist what was I going to use it for? I wasn’t doing nature and landscape anymore. I needed lenses for shooting people on the fly in dreadful lighting conditions. Oh the dilemma!
So I kept it. At the time I thought that it stayed with me only because of my emotional attachment but it turned out to be a smart move. Over the years that lens has made me a lot of money. I’ve shot loads of portraits, details shots and used it in ways that I never would have imagined such as food photography. Food? I’m a news guy! Yep.
When I’m assigned to do photos of some chef or hot new restaurant I can pull that little gem out and do portraits of the tasty creations. This lens gave me more flexibility within the assignment and broadened my appeal to clients. I’ve gotten commercial work to do small product photography of micro chips, tiny video displays, jewelry, rock climbing clamps and wedges … all because I knew how to shoot in the macro world. So rather than being an oddity in my kit the 105mm Micro has become a lovely asset. In fact when the Jonbennet Ramsay and Columbine massacre stories were happening out here my agency loved the fact that I had the Micro to do quick copy shots of family photos.
Oh and the glass within is superb and for some subject almost too good.. Back in the 90’s portraits were expected to be softly lit and the Micro would often be used with a diffusion filter to cut it’s sharpness into a flattering rendition. The sharpness is stunning and now that loads of sharpness is in vogue in the editorial portraiture world the razor edge that this lens gives is a strength
So a bit ago when I was packing up from a job where the Micro was the lens of choice my heart sunk – I dropped it. I never drop gear. Everyone who knows me understands that I treat my gear with love and respect and thus my gear basically doesn’t break. But this time I wasn’t so lucky. The aperture return mechanism was damaged and I felt like I had betrayed an old friend. So in a box it went to and Nikon Professional Services got it back to me in their usual timely way. Thanks guys!
But in the meantime I got another gig where the Micro was the go to lens. Thus I rented the new version with the VR. That one is just as lovely but I felt like I was cheating on my wife. It just didn’t feel right to use that lens when my baby was at the doctor. Please understand that I don’t get personal with my gear - they are all tools. However I’ve had this lens for 17 years and it came to me when I decided to stop being a guy who makes photos and instead become a photographer. When I got it back there was a sense that all was right again.
Oh and just got a call for a shoot in two days where the Micro clinched the deal.
What was the tipping point at which you decided to "stop being a guy who makes photos and instead become a photographer"?
Great blog, BTW. Found it through The Online Photographer.
Caleb Courteau
Posted by: Caleb Courteau | June 15, 2010 at 06:22 PM
I hear you on macro.
I just picked up an old AIS 55mm f/3.5 macro and it's really cool. Super fun to manual focus and adjust aperture.
Posted by: Nic Coury | August 20, 2010 at 04:55 PM