When I bought my D50 last summer, I chose a Nikon in large part because that’s the brand of camera that my dad has.  It wasn’t so much familial brand loyalty that motivated me, as much as a hope that I’d be able to convince my dad to share a particular lens with me.

You see, some time back he used to do a lot of product shots and so needed something that would do close-up detail well.  He went and got himself an AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 to do that work.  However, times have changed and he doesn’t do this same kind of photography anymore.  And I knew that this lens was just sitting there, languishing in a little padded case in his basement office.  

A few days before I headed out to Portland, I mentioned to him that I’d be interested in borrowing this lens for six months or so and that I’d be happy to lend him one of my lenses in exchange.  He ended up doing me one better and offered me the lens straight out.  This particular piece of equipment makes me very happy as it takes gorgeous pictures, captures amazing detail and makes food look especially delicious.

If you click the link on the photo above, it will take you to a set of 22 pictures on Flickr that I took while messing around with the lens earlier this afternoon.  It’s all just stuff around my parents’ house, but some of it came out looking really cool.