On Thu, 05 Sep 2002 01:46:53 GMT, Rudy Garcia wrote:

> The silver knob, as the lens came from the factory, does absolutely
> nothing. It was meant to work as a focus range limiter and when the
>lens was new, you could send it to Nikon and have the "feature" enabled
>free of charge.
>
> Why Nikon did this I know not.

It is not a focus range limiter, but a focus lock, which did
sorta work...;-)

> The extra scales mark the reproduction ratio (kind of like
> magnification) that would be obtained when the lens was focused to a
> certain point. One scale showed the repro ratio without additional
> extension tubes, the other scale showed the repro ratio obtained when a
> PN-11 extension tube was used.
>
> This lens is a terrific macro. One of Nikon's best.

It is great from infinity to close-focus, and very good to
minimum focus (some others, like the 60 macro, are a bit
sharper at maximum magnification, which also is higher
with the 60...), and it is surprisingly compact for a 105mm
macro lens. This lens can also be used (stopped down,
necessary for acceptable DOF anyway) with the TC14A and
TC200/201 converters for higher magnification for macro
work... (See www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/slemn.html.)

> BTW: The bidding went beyond what this lens can be bought for, even
>though the reserve was not met.

Thet'z eBay fer ya....! ;-)