View single post by jk
 Posted: Sat Oct 6th, 2018 15:11
jk



Joined: Mon Apr 2nd, 2012
Location: Carthew, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Posts: 6877
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Another synopsis of the difference between the AFS, P and PF lenses.

AF-S/SWM
Auto focus lenses with built-in 'Silent Wave' Motors which convert traveling waves into rotational energy to focus the lens optics. Designed to be used on bodies with no built in motor, AF-S lenses are fast, accurate, and quiet and all but the cheapest feature fulltime manual focus override. Almost every current Nikkor lens now features the AF-S designation, but there are some that use AF-P, see next entry.

Most popular AF-S lenses: Again, since this designation covers nearly the entire range of Nikkor lenses, it's probably more useful to link to this section which lists all current AF-S Nikkor lenses by their popularity.



AF-P
Nikon AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
Nikon AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
Introduced at the beginning of 2016, the AF-P lenses feature a “stepping motor” like Canon's STM lenses. This style of motor is much is considerably quieter than AF-S technology, and it also has a much smoother motion during the focus process. AF-P is therefore ideal for shooting video, to both maintain a smooth motion during zooming, and also so that you don't hear the focus motors in the recording.

Most popular AF-P lenses: Nikon AF-P DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR | Nikon AF-P DX 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR


PF

Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF ED VR

PF lenses stand for Phase Frenel, and are essentially Nikon's equivalent of Canon's popular DO (Diffractive Optics) technology. This technology uses a specially designed diffractive lens element to correct chromatic aberration, something which typical refractive lenses need several lens elements to do.The diffractive element features a microscopically grooved rear element that forces light of different wavelengths to all converge on the same point (see diagram above). The result is a much smaller and lighter lens.

The Nikon PF line began with the 2015 introduction of the Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF ED VR, and continues in 2018 with the introduction of the Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR.



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