Nikon 105mm lens Auto or Manual focus?

The 60 & the 105 af macro lenses are f/2.8 at infinity but are both f/5.0 lenses at 1:1. The slower af response on the 105 is due to the physical contraints of the lens not the light transmission to the af sensor. Because of the greater mass of the 105 lens it does not respond as quickly as the 60 and therefore will generate af errors in more situations. Which is why manual focus gears or a good focus lock technique is necessry with the 105 lens. IMHO the added working distance at 1:1 which also makes it a great lens for super macro work closer than 1:1 more than make up for it's af weakness. The AF works well on the 60 and it's a great lens for fish portraits down to 1:1, so both lenses deserve a place in your u/w camera kt.

Yes James! I most definitely envy Canon's 100 USM. I was thinking about getting the Sigma 150 HSM for Nikon, but then I read that it is as slow as the 105, is this right?

Luiz

Yes, it's true. It's a big heavy lens with a lot of glass to move. But it's HSM, so you can use the AF-On or AF-Lock and then just use manual focus if you need to over-ride.

Cheers

James

Thanks to everyone for the information, it helped.