The Nikon Lens Abbreviations Explained

It will be unfair for me not to discuss the Nikon Lenses' abbreviations, as in my previous blog I have already discussed the Canon's numbers and nomenclature. 

And trust me on this, once you are an expert on the specifications of the lenses, you are "50% photographer" while the rest is completely based on your creativity and imagination.

Now, you might be wondering,

"What are the specifications?"

"What does this AF-S mean?"

"What does the DX mean?"

"What does the ED mean?"

There are so many things to understand before you even find yourself squeezing out off the buyer's funnel.
So, let see where exactly are you stuck and really finding it difficult to convert.

What are the abbreviation/nomenclature?

The article focuses on explaining the numbers and nomenclature that one comes across on the Nikon lenses. 

It will be informative and interactive, so sit back and relax while I do the job for you.

 Breaking down the title 

Who is Nikon?

Nikon is a Tokyo based organisation founded in the year 1917 and became a corporation in 1988. Since their establishment Nikon has provided us with some of the best in class imaging and optic devices that still hold a superior position in the industry. They have also made remarkable strive in optical technologies for the medical industry.
Whoever has taken a single picture in their life knows who or what Nikon is. This is the brand awareness that everybody should work for. Nikon has proved themselves over the century and that's really commendable.

In the comments. Let it come.

What is Focal length?

Focal length is the distance between the lens and the image sensor when the subject is in focus, Now depending upon this focal length, lenses are categorized as zoom and prime lenses. Zoom lenses are divided into wide angle and telephoto lenses, while prime lenses do not have the feature of altering the focal length and hence they are termed as fixed focal length.
For e.g; Zoom lenses: 18-55mm
              Prime lenses: 50mm

What is Auto-focus?

Auto-focus is the feature that was first introduced in the Nikon lenses on 1986. The types of auto-focus available for the lenses in today's market are;

1. AF-S: The auto-focus(AF) implements Silent Wave Motor which helps in fast and silent focusing of the lenses. The SWM incorporated most of the features of a USM(Ultra-sonic motor) from the Canon lenses. They even work well with the DSLRs who do not have focusing motor like D40/D5x00/D3x00
2. AF-P: It comes with a Stepper motor with ultra fast and silent operation of the motor inside the lenses. They are the best in class if you are shooting erratic movements or even if you are capturing videos with fast auto-focusing, the motor sound wont ruin the videos.
3. AF-I: Auto-focus with integrated focus motor. They are not in the market these days but people who have DSLRs that date back before the 2000s can find this information useful.
4.  AF-D: They are lenses with a distance meter that sends information to the camera on the distance of the subject from the lenses. They are currently not in use and production but played a vital role in the earlier days.

Here is a chart from the Amazon India representing which of the DSLRs are compatible with the above mentioned auto-focusing.

Compatibility of  DSLRs and AF. Source: www.amazon.in

Vibration Reduction

What is Stabilization?

VR or Vibration Reduction as the name says helps in reducing the vibration or the jerks faced during shooting a video especially. They work great when during low lighting conditions when the shutter speed demands to be low so that after processing there is hardly any blurriness to the edges of the subject in focus. Its the same feature like the Image Stabilization(IS) in the Canon Lenses. They 
immensely reduce the use of tripods.

The picture to the left clearly shows the use of a VR in the lens.

Image source: Wikipedia commons

What is Aperture?

Aperture is the measure of the opening of the lens to the light. It controls the exposure to the camera sensor. With the help of aperture we can alter the depth of field. With more aperture you will be getting a shallow depth of field and with less aperture you will be getting a deeper depth of field. Low f-stop number, more aperture, more depth of field, more vibrant and sharp pictures. 
For e.g; f/3.5, f/4.0, f/5.5, etc.

Left: f/11(Deeper depth of field). Right: f/1.8(Shallow depth of field)

Image source: https://www.flickr.com

What are Types?

The lenses are further categorized into:

1. D-type: They send distance information of the subject from the lenses to the camera like the AF-D. So, they are used for metering/ 3D matrix metering.
2. E-type: E-type or Electronic Diaphragm Control gives more accurate aperture blade controls and is fully electronic, so there is no need to manually adjust the aperture now. It gives more functionality when shooting at high frame rates as the lens automatically steps down to a desired aperture without the interference of the camera motor. They are better than the G-type(below).
3. G-type: They do not have the aperture control ring like the old models as G-type commands to change the aperture from the camera dial.

What is Focusing?

Rather than saying focusing let me say Internal Focusing(IF). This helps to move some of the elements inside the lens barrel without extending the front barrel of the lenses. By this you get quick focusing and easy functionality. Most of the modern lenses are equipped with IF. 

For e.g: Nikon 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED

What are Elements?

1. ED- Extra-low Depression lens elements helps to disperse the light evenly on the camera sensor thus reducing the chances of chromatic aberration and producing a high resolution, sharp image even at high apertures through out the zoom range. Found mostly in the modern Nikkor lenses. 
2. FL- Fluorite lens element is an optically superior lens quality with "monocrystal optical material" which is even lighter than the optical glasses used in other Nikon lenses. They help to produce images with lesser chromatic aberration or reduce color fringing in photographs.
3. N- A nano-crystal coating that reduces the reflection of the internal elements and also reduces ghosting, thus producing superior images. 
4. SIC- Super Integrated Coating helps to produce more colors and helps in reducing flaring and ghosting in the pictures.

So, the elements help to reduce the chromatic aberration or the color fringing(the formation of incorrectly refracted colors by the lenses near dark edges to bright backgrounds that lead to mismatch of focal point) and also the ghosting in the images.

Here is an example of with and without chromatic aberration. Source: Wikipedia

Above: Without chromatic aberration. Below: With Chromatic aberration

For e.g: Nikon AF-S 24-70mm F/2.8G ED Zoom Lens (Mostly the top-end lenses)

Various Nikon lens elements

What is Specialization?

1. Micro: A term coined instead of Macro, which allows you to take really close up shots of subjects.
2. PC-E: Perspective control with electronic diaphragm. This helps to tilt shift and gives the user a much better control.
3. DC: De-focus control helps to control the bokehs thus its best suited for portraits.

A PC-E specialized Nikon Lens

For e.g;

This is a lens with a perspective control with electronic diaphragm(PC-E). They are the top end models and are very expensive. They can cost you around 500 grands Indian rupees at times.
Cheapest to be found in Amazon India is:
Nikon Nikkor 24mm F/3.5D PC-E ED

Image Source: WikipediaCommons

This is an example of a tilt shift image where you can see the perspective of the view angle changes. Below is the image taken by Greg Keene.
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org

Now before I move into Category I would like talk on another nomenclature that was not included in the above example is "Format" and "Mount type".

What is Format?

1. FX: Full frame lenses or 35mm equivalent. FX wont be mentioned on the lenses as its premeditated that every lens is full frame by default.
2. DX: These lenses are designed for crop sensor bodies and are indicated in the lenses description. They can be used with the full frame bodies but the resolution gets cut by half.
3. CX: These are designed for mirrorless bodies and are again not indicated in the titles or description of the lenses. The sensor is smaller to the DX and if you notice a lens with "1 Nikkor" then its a CX format lens. They cant be used with other Nikon bodies.

CX format Nikon lenses that are indicated as 1 Nikoor

DX format Nikon lens

What is Mount type?

It ensures the compatibility of the lenses with the DSLR bodies.

1. F-mount: The most commonly available mount type since 1959. They are compatible with almost all DSLR bodies but not the mirrorless. 
2. Z-mount: They are the new series of Nikkor lenses that produce sharp and high resolution images in a full frame body. Moreover due to its retractable mechanism, they are compact and light weight. Till now, Nikon has launched only a few Z-mount lenses and they mainly comprise the wide angle and prime lens category. 

What is Category?

Lastly coming to the category of lenses which tells us whether the lens is a zoom lens or a prime lens. The zoom lenses are further divided into wide angle, fish-eye, and telephoto lenses depending upon their focal lengths. Prime lens or fixed focal length lenses have only one focal length and you have to adjust your distance from the subject in order to focus.

Adding to it, you can differentiate a top end Nikon lens with an entry level one by the presence of a yellow ring at the top of the lens. This so reminds me of the Canon L(Luxury) lenses where you will find a red ring at the top of the lenses.

The Ring

I hope by now you are almost clear on the various abbreviations a Nikon lens has and what are their significance in photography. If you have any further questions then do hit me up in the comment section so that I can get back to you as soon as possible.

Cheers for now!