| AF-S | Aufo Focus Silent - An autofocus lens with a Silent wave, integrated, coreless focus motor (1996). Basically an update to AF-I. Some older bodies can't autofocus with them (N60, N8008) |
| ED | Extra Low Dispersion Glass. Enable the production of lenses that offer superior sharpness and color correction by minimizing chromatic aberration. |
| G | No apperture ring. Thus needs to be used on camera with Command dial control of apertures. With some older cameras (N90s, for example), can be used in Program or Shutter-priority exposure mode, though. |
| IF | Internal Focusing |
| VR | Vibration Reduction. Corrects for camera movement during exposure. VR function only works on cameras with 5 or more autofocus sensors (e.g., not F4, N90s, N60, N70, N8008). Lately, Nikon has been using a VRII designation to indicate some advances to the vibration reduction system. |
| D | Distance Information. Adds distance information to the data transmitted to the camera via chip. Distinguished by the D or G after the lens designation |
| M/A | M/A mode. AF-S Nikkors feature Nikon’s exclusive M/A mode, that allows switching from autofocus to manual operation with virtually no time lag — even during AF servo operation and regardless of AF mode in use. |
| N | Originally, the actual designation used for the first AI lenses; beginning in 2005 it now stands for Nano Crystal Coat, a special type of flare reduction coating applied to newer lenses. |
| SIC | Super Integrated Coating, a multi-layer flare reduction coating, usually applied to the more complex zoom lenses. |
| SWM | Silent Wave Motor. AF-S Nikkors feature Nikon’s SWM which converts “traveling waves” into rotational energy to focus the optics. This enables high-speed autofocusing that’s extremely accurate and super quiet. |
| Micro | Macro Lens |