I've heard so many great things about this lens - many internet forums are littered with posts about it... "It's a macro lens, with VR that can do double duties as a portrait lens, and is super sharp." So, when I had an opportunity to rent the lens for a weekend (for $25), and try it out, I couldn't pass it up.

Auto focus speed is good, but not as great as I was expecting. As the lighting gets dimmer, I found the AF was hunting far more than I expected for a f/2.5 lens. With bright light, however, the focus speed is very fast (far better than the 18-105VR, 70-300VR, or the 35mm1.8). Not too sure what to say about the low light AF speed - might be a one-off issue, might be a actual characteristic of the lens, or you could chalk it up to an abused rental...

Unlike autofocus, there are no questions about the sharpness of this lens. Neither the 18-105VR, 70-300VR, or the 35mm1.8 can touch this lens, in this department. Razor sharp, would be the best way to describe it. This is a great thing for macro, but some may consider the lens "too sharp for portrait" - any imperfections on the subject will come through, and may need to be touched up in post.

The vibration Reduction works well, though you wouldn't use it too much on true macro work - the depth of field is so narrow, you really HAVE to use a tripod. On close-up work, however, VR will come in handy, just as it will also benefit portrait work.

The variable aperture thing really threw me - you have to be quite far away from the subject to get to f/2.8. Otherwise, wide open is really more like f/3.5. Still, at 105mm, this is sufficient to isolate the subject.

So, at the end of te day, the 105VR Macro felt like it was a good "Jack of all trades, master of none" lens...

Here are some sample I took with this lens: