Though the Nikon 85mm has a longer focal length—which converts to 127.5mm on DX-format cameras such as the Nikon D300s or D90—and VR II image stabilization, the Tamron has a faster f/2.0 aperture which produced wonderful background blur (bokeh) and beautiful fall-off of light.

While I favor the Tamron, both of these lenses are quite good and it's nice to see manufacturers continuing to produce affordable, quality lenses for more common—and less expensive—digital SLRs with APS-C sensors.

Though most of the little critters I like to photograph with macro lenses were hiding away for the winter, I got plenty of nice indoor shots of plants, cats' whiskers, miniature figurines, buttons, rings, and other small items. I'd say sharpness was a notch below the Tamron lens which was surprising since the Nikkor has VR II. The lens also had a tendency to overexpose the highlights in an image though color was rich and vibrant.

Because the Nikon, like the Tamron, is a 1:1 (life size) lens, what I saw through the viewfinder of my D300s camera, was what I captured in the frame, helping me create true-to-life, close-up images. Speaking of true-to-life images, I lent the 85mm Micro to Jordan Matter www.jordanmatter.com, a photographer and long-time Nikon user who lives in my building. Jordan used the lens to capture Macro images of his new baby daughter, including exquisite close-ups of her face and a shot of his son holding his sister's teeny-tiny hand. Very cute.

Jordan helped me test the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens and liked it so much he later went out and bought one for himself. While trying out the 85mm Micro, we both felt a bit jaded by the 70-200mm. Where that pricey, pro lens was fabulous and locked in on a subject near instantaneously, the 85mm Micro took time to focus—sometimes hunting for the subject in low contrast scenes—eventually getting there but not always producing the level of sharpness we were used to with the 70-200mm.