In article <4ahq7j$v05@hearst.cac.psu.edu>, jjl152@psu.edu says...
>Hi. I'm beginning to buy lenses for my Nikon F2A and I have noticed
>that Nikon AF AIS lenses are cheaper than the Nikon Manual AIS lenses.
>What is the reason for this? Are the manual lenses sturdier? I would
>like to buy AF lenses so I can eventually upgrade to an F4s with no
>added lens expense, but my chief concern is overall lens quality. Are
>the AF AIS lenses as optically and mechanically as good as Manual AIS
>lenses. Does the focus ring action feel the same?

The F4 works fine with MF AIS lenses (except for AF!). Mechanically,
the MF lenses are generally nicer and have a better feel, but the
AF lenses also seem to be fairly durable, though they may not feel
like they would be. The more expensive AF lenses are very well made.
One pet peeve: the $%#@*& plastic aperture rings on AF lenses feel
bad, and rarely have the ease of motion or the precision in the
aperture detents that the metal MF rings have - Nikon should use
the metal aperture rings on ALL their lenses! The plastic in the lens barrels does seem to lower the prices of AF vs. MF lenses, even with
the added electronics in the AF lenses. Optically, most of the
original AF lenses were the same as the MF versions. As new designs
are introduced, they are brought out as AF lenses only. (One should
NOT assume that a newer optical design is better, though - there
are several instances in the Nikon line where the older is better
than the newer [see "SUBJECTIVE Lens Evaluations (Mostly Nikkors)"
{follow "photography" to "NIKON"} at:
http://www.phys.rug.nl/mk/people/aue/photo.html
for my experience with over 100 lenses {often multiple samples}]).
Unfortunately, there are some signs that Nikon is learning from Canon
how to market the brand name instead of quality - and some of the
cheapest AF lenses are a notch down in quality from the bulk of the
line, though still pretty decent (unlike the entry-level lenses of
its competitor....;-). Nikon continues to maintain the MF line years
after many people announced its demise, but if you do not care about
AF, and the latest bell and/or whistle relating to AE is something
you don't care a heck of a lot about, my advice is to buy MF lenses
while there is a nice selection still available - they can only go
up in value with time and the further onslaught of flimsy feeling
plastic. (And, no, the focusing ring does not feel the same.)
Hope this helps.