Nikon equivalent of Canon lens tech.?


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sensires

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Oct 25, 2003
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Hi all, there was this thread I read some time ago where someone listed the Nikon equivalent of Canon's terms for lenses ... but I can't find it now ... would appreciate if you could enlighten me on Nikon's equivalent of Canon's USM, L lens, IS, etc .... what do Nikon's AF-S, D, G, ED etc mean?

I do not have a system yet, but have started reading up a little on Canon's technology and would appreciate it if you could help me with Nikon's ... thanks =)
 

For the benefit of the Nikonians who may want to help sensires translate Canon lingo into Nikon's:

USM - Ultrasonic Motor. Ultra-silent and ultra-fast autofocus motor for the lens.

IS - Image Stabiliser. A technology that reduces or otherwise eliminates camera shake in a picture during heldheld photography.

L lenses - Canon's top-of-the-line series of professional lenses, also known as "Luxury" lenses. Unparalleled optical performance compared to consumer lenses in terms of sharpness, chromatic aberration control, colour balance and saturation.

DO - Diffractive Optics. Fresnel-type lens element used in the construction of the lens that allows for very good optical performance yet attaining smaller and lighter lenses.

EF mount - Canon's "electro-focus" mount that is common across the whole EOS series of D/SLRs. Any lens that is made for the EF mount can be used in any EOS camera. Basically the only contacts between the lens and the camera body is electronic--there is no mechanical coupling at all. The lens' AF drive, aperture diaphragm control, etc. is all done in the lens itself, controlled through the EF mount.

The EF-S mount is modified version of the EF mount for "short back focus", introduced specifically for the EOS 300D/Digital Rebel camera and the bundled 18-55mm EF-S lens. EF-S mount lenses cannot be used with normal EF mount camera bodies.


Bibliography:

http://www.usa.canon.com/eflenses/technology/index.html

Personal knowledge
 

oeyvind said:

Thanks oeyvind! ... too bad the site consists of mainly dead links :( ... esp. in the lense section I checked ....

Ah Pao said:
For the benefit of the Nikonians who may want to help sensires translate Canon lingo into Nikon's:

USM - Ultrasonic Motor. Ultra-silent and ultra-fast autofocus motor for the lens.

IS - Image Stabiliser. A technology that reduces or otherwise eliminates camera shake in a picture during heldheld photography......

Thanks Ah Pao!!! :thumbsup: .... hopefully someone will be kind enuff to do a 'translation' to Nikon =) ...
 

USM - Ultrasonic Motor. Ultra-silent and ultra-fast autofocus motor for the lens.
Nikon Equivalent - AF-S - Silent Wave motor technology.

IS - Image Stabiliser. A technology that reduces or otherwise eliminates camera shake in a picture during heldheld photography.
Nikon Equivalent - VR - Vibration Reduction.

L lenses - Canon's top-of-the-line series of professional lenses, also known as "Luxury" lenses. Unparalleled optical performance compared to consumer lenses in terms of sharpness, chromatic aberration control, colour balance and saturation.
Nikon Equivalent - ED - Not strictly a "designation" of top-of-the-line. More an indication of the type of material used. ED denotes Exta-low Dispersion glass is incorporated in one or more elements in the lens.

DO - Diffractive Optics. Fresnel-type lens element used in the construction of the lens that allows for very good optical performance yet attaining smaller and lighter lenses.
No Nikon Equivalent as yet.

EF mount - Canon's "electro-focus" mount that is common across the whole EOS series of D/SLRs. Any lens that is made for the EF mount can be used in any EOS camera. Basically the only contacts between the lens and the camera body is electronic--there is no mechanical coupling at all. The lens' AF drive, aperture diaphragm control, etc. is all done in the lens itself, controlled through the EF mount.
Nikon Equivalent - F-Mount - key characteristic is that the F-mount has not changed throughout the evolution of Nikon's cameras both SLR and DSLR. Thus an old manual-focus F-mount can work with all SLRs/DSLRs (there are some caveats with certain specialty lenses). Example: my old AIS Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 manual lens works in ALL modes with the current generation D2h with full matrix metering and flash functions intact.
The EF-S mount is modified version of the EF mount for "short back focus", introduced specifically for the EOS 300D/Digital Rebel camera and the bundled 18-55mm EF-S lens. EF-S mount lenses cannot be used with normal EF mount camera bodies.
No Direct Nikon Equivalent - but Nikon's answer to the digital crop factor are DX lenses which are built with smaller image circles. DX lenses can be used with film SLRs with the caveat that vignetting will occur at the wide angle end of the lens (eg. the 12-24DX will vignette at focal lengths less than 15-16mm; but usable full-frame beyond 15-16mm)

Other Nikon Technologies/Acronyms
i-TTL - Evolution of Nikon's TTL flash technology. Together with CLS, provides fully automated multi-flash setups.

CLS - Creative Lighting System. Nikon's innovation in controlling multiple groups of CLS-capable flashes to provide flexibility and creativity in lighting.

More information on Nikon's lens tech can be found on Nikon Singapore website. - Click on the Products icon, then Nikkor lenses.
 

Darren said:
USM - Ultrasonic Motor. Ultra-silent and ultra-fast autofocus motor for the lens.
Nikon Equivalent - AF-S - Silent Wave motor technology.

if the nikon lens is not AFS, then it is AF-D(with the distance chip) or AF-n.(excluding manual lenses)
 

thank goodness canon came out with E-TTL 2, incorporating distance information in the flash algorithm. Now Canon can stand toe to toe with Nikon and Minolata on this front. :D
 

Darren said:
USM - Ultrasonic Motor. Ultra-silent and ultra-fast autofocus motor for the lens.
Nikon Equivalent - AF-S - Silent Wave motor technology.

IS - Image Stabiliser. A technology that reduces or otherwise eliminates camera shake in a picture during heldheld photography.
Nikon Equivalent - VR - Vibration Reduction......


Thanks a lot Darren :thumbsup: Really appreciate your sharing ... Taking time to digest and read up more bout all that info :) Thanks again.
 

Just wanted to add a few more words in this post. Did anyone realized that the Canon lens catalogue are usually hard to find(since their last update back in 1997)? :confused: Unlike Nikon, in terms of updated product(s) catalogue, I should say that Nikon is way ahead of Canon. :thumbsup:
 

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