I use this lens at my Nikon D-5000. Bought it to take pictures of the praying mantis that lives in the plants in our backyard.
Auto-focus is amazingly fast and silent, and the vibration reduction gives me 3 to 4 f-stops leverage. Photographing the mantis, I don't apply the auto-focus most of the time; instead, I focus manually to the closest distance, and then leaning forward (using a mono-pod to eliminate vertical and lateral movement) until the subject becomes sharp. Works like a charm, but requires some practice.
This lens has a very shallow depth of field at f3.5 it measures in fractions of centimeters. The pictures this camera-lens combination generates are brilliant, with true colors and (provided the focus is correct) very sharp.
The lens is somewhat lightweight, using predominantly plastic materials. No cheap feeling on it, though, everything is well built and works flawlessly.
I like also the M/A functionality, where you can adjust/override the focus provided by the AF module manually without having to switch to the manual focus mode first; the lens has an AF/M switch, so you can operate it completely in manual mode.
The minimal focusing distance is very useful and much shorter than the most critters would allow you to use anyway. One nice feature is a scale that tells you the reproduction rate for the distance you focus at.
One small concern I had was the 3.5 f-stop instead of the more common 2.8. But in practical use, that difference is negligible, and would come into play only at some very limited occasions, like with portraits of people. Which, by the way, this lens also does an exceptional job at.
All in all, with over 35 years of photographic experience under my belt, I have to say that this is one of the best lenses I ever had. It beats some of my $1000+ lenses, that I had with the old film SLRs. If you are in the market for a macro lens for your Nikon DX-format DSLR, look no further.
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