In article <31F61C83.7510@acmenet.net>, chimera@acmenet.net says...
> First off I'd like to thank everyone here..you've are knowledgable
>and patient(with me)and show genuine cncern to help the un- or
>misinformed.
> And I'd like to push your patience a little further if I may...
>I need to know exactly what the lens designations or for Nikon
>lenses, "D", "AIS", "ED", "AF AIS".I would also like to know which
>lenses work best for my Nikon F3 and work for a Nikon FTN.

(This, and your post, should probably appear on another group....,
but to keep this one "legal", I will add thaat I have several spare
Nikkor lenses to sell - e-mail for information, if interested. ;-)
- "D" refers to distance information transferred by recent AF
lenses to bodies that can use the information for flash
and ambient light metering.
- "AIS" refers to all lenses (they have orange minimum-aperture
numbers) introduced soon after "AI" (Automatic Index - refers
to lenses with ridges on the rear-facing edge of the aperture
ring for engaging the AI meter tab on AI bodies) which can
mechanically communicate with some bodies the aperture in use
when the lens has stopped down during exposure, and the
focal-length group (short or long) that the lens falls into.
- "ED" refers to the lens having at least one low-dispersion
ED-glass element in its construction (reduces chromatic
problems, mostly in fast teles).
- ("AF AIS") is a redundancy - all AF lenses are AIS (though not
all AIS lenses are AF ["AIS", "AI", or "non-AI" are ways
to separate the manual-focus lenses by meter-connection
capability - and "E" lenses {which are AIS} are a
less-expensive set of lenses once offered by Nikon]).
- "AF" refers to autofocus lenses.
All Nikkor lenses (except the 21mm f4 non-retrofocus) will fit the
F3, but non-AI lenses require the lifting of the AI tab on the
camera (FE, FM, and F4 bodies also have this facility [though not the
FE-2, FM-2]) and engaging the DOF preview while metering ("stop-down
metering").
All Nikkor lenses will work with the Nikon FTN, but those without the
coupling prong at f5.6 require stop-down metering (stick a finger nail
up the center of the slot in the meter head [where the prong goes]
until you hear two clicks, then mount the lens and use DOF preview
while metering (the camera meter returns to normal when a lens with
a prong is mounted). Virtually all AI and AIS lenses will work
directly and normally on both bodies without interim preparation steps
(the plastic-version 50mm f1.8 AIS is the exception).
Hope This Helps