In article <01bc92ee$e9665200$10e440ce@alvbynsy>, afc@cl-sys.com says...
>AIXMighty! wrote in article
>...
>> so which ones are most noticeably better and which ones are worse?

>David Ruether could probably answer this more thoroughly than I could. In
>my opinion, at least, the following lenses that I own or have owned that
>are better in the AF version than they were in the manual version are 180
>f2.8 EDIF, 300 f/4 EDIF (compared to the f 4.5) 35~105 f(variable), 35 f2.
>I've owned both AF and MF versions of these and find the AF lenses are
>better optically. The 70~210 F4, an MF lens, as an example, is a better
>optic than the current AF 70~210. You might check with David Ruether. I
>know he has more experience than I do with a lot more Nikkor lenses.
>David, care to jump in?
>Fred

Oh, OK..., what the heck... ;-)
In my experience (ymmv...;-),

AF better:
- 60mm and 105mm macro lenses near closest focus
- 180 f2.8
- 300 f4
- (Maybe some others I haven't tried...;-)
- Any lens offered only in AF, and not in MF...

MF better:
- 16mm f3.5
- 28mm f2.8
- 35mm f2 (I found the two samples of the AF 35mm f2 I tried not quite
up to the late samples of the MF 35mm f2 at wider stops...)
- 55mm and 105mm macro lenses near infinity
- 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 (I found the MF 35-105 unusually variable in quality,
but a good sample of it is a VERY fine lens, and somewhat better than
the two very good AF 35-105 "D" samples I've tried [the original AF
version had the same optics as the MF version, as I recall])
- 70-210/80-200 f4
- Any lens offered only in MF, and not in AF, of which there are quite
a few...
- (Maybe some others I can't recall just now...;-)

AF and MF versions about the same:
- lenses in both systems that share the same optical design
- several others (including the mentioned 35mm f2 and 35-105mm f3.5-4.5...;-)

For more info, check out "SUBJECTIVE Lens Evaluations (Mostly Nikkors)",
under "I babble" on my web page... (but DON'T get hung up on minor
evaluation number differences [especially with zooms]!).
Hope This Helps
(David Ruether - http://www.fcinet.com/ruether )