| New lenses all have bunch of acronyms attached | | | | are reading this site. |
| to them. Here is a simple guide to the more | | | | DX: |
| recent Nikon lenses to understand what these all | | | | These lenses are designed only to work with crop |
| mean, and to understand if any of this is | | | | sensor cameras (1.5x). That means that they will |
| important: | | | | not cover the full sensor if used on a full frame |
| AF: Autofocus | | | | camera. This allows lenses to be made smaller, |
| These lenses autofocus with autofocus capable | | | | cheaper and lighter because they only have to |
| Nikon bodies that have an internal autofocus | | | | cover a reduced area. |
| motor. | | | | M/A: Manual / Auto |
| AF-S: Autofocus with silent wave motor | | | | This allows switching from auto to manual focus |
| These lenses have an internal motor that does | | | | instantly by moving the focus ring. On lenses |
| the autofocus. This enables AF-S lenses to work | | | | which do not have this feature, you should not |
| with bodies without internal autofocus motors | | | | touch the focus ring when the camera is on |
| such as the Nikon D40, D60 or D3000. | | | | autofocus, trying to move the focus ring may |
| VR: Vibration Reduction | | | | damage the autofocus mechanism in this case. |
| These have elements inside the lens that | | | | What about the ones that I didn't mention? Well, I |
| compensate for camera shake and prevent | | | | think those are beyond the interest of the |
| unsharp pictures. | | | | amateur photographer. To see a more |
| ED: Extra low dispersion glass | | | | professional and complete explanation of all lens |
| This is a sort of coating that reduces chromatic | | | | acronyms, have a look at the glossary from |
| aberration. Don't worry about it too much, if you | | | | Nikon. |