Nikon glass nomenclature

ED means "extra low dispersion glass" and IF means "internal focus"

DX means that it is designed to be used on DSLR's with cropped sensors, or on the D3 in "DX" mode... i.e. no film cameras.

AF-S means the lens has an internal focusing motor... that is generally faster and better than non AF-S... there's more to it than just that it works with the D40/40X/60 (it is similar to Sigma's HSM) although some Sigmas that are not HSM still have internal motors.

G simply means the lens doesn't have an aperture ring. G actually kind of stinks...
 
AF-S is not D40 nomenclature. It means that the lens has an ultrasonic motor, which will work with the rest of the cameras too, and to my knowledge is better in every respect than the old motor AF system.

G lenses are usually cheaper lenses. They don't have an aperture ring.

IF is intenal focus. It means that no external parts of the lens move while focusing.

ED is for Extra low Dispersion (i knew what it is about but still had to google that one!). ED lenses use high quality glass and construction to reduce chromatic aberration.

DX means that the lens is designed for DX format (cropped) sensors. Using DX lenses on cameras with a full 35mm sensor (FX format, currently only the D3 has it) will result in vignetting. This point is kind of moot unless you use it on other brands than Nikon, because the D3 can adapt to DX lenses and probably so will future FX cameras. However, this lowers their usable resolution, as they are using only a crop of the FX sensor to match the DX size.

Edit: Way more info here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F-mount

AF-S stands for Autofocus - Silent (the Nikon term for an ultrasonic motor is Silent Wave Motor, which sounds somewhat cooler and is not taken by Canon).
 
"Google first, ask questions later."

Also applicable to a good degree for Wikipedia.
 
Heh :)

Should've searched Google with my title instead of the lens I was asking about. DOH.

Nikon may have more attractive advertisement for beginners ... they sure do not help beginners understand what they are trying to sell.

From going through many of those threads, I still can not tell what is easiest way for beginner to identify a "superior" lens.
 
The general goal of camera and lens marketers is to keep you as confused as possible. The less likely you are to figure things out, the more likely you are to not get what you want the first time and end up buying twice, three, or possibly even four times. :)
 
Or switch to another brand... Canon lenses are enticing enough as it is!
 

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