The traditional Nikon mount has a small screw that is turned. The camera autofocus speed is limited by the amount of torque that can be applied to the screw - which can make focusing some of the heavier lenses slower.
The "AF-D" lenses have contacts back to the camera body that communicate distance information (that is in turn used by the camera body to calculate flash power).
The G mount lenses remove the manual coupling for the f/stop which means that only bodies that can control the aperture from the body can use them. My FM3A has no aperture control on the body and so with that camera, I unlock the aperture ring.
The AF-S camera lenses have the focusing motor in the body.
The impressive part of Nikon's compatibility isn't only the "you can use an AI-S lens on a modern (professional) body, but also "you can use any of the F mount lenses on an old body" (the G lenses don't have the f/stop ring and the E lenses have the focus motor in the lens).
While it appears that Nikon has mostly shifted to E and G mount, third party lenses are still being manufactured for the F mount.
Difference between G and E-type lenses is that 'E' stands for Electromagnetic Diaphrapham.
The G type lenses have an aperture tab for diaphrapham control as dictated by the camera body, the E-type lenses leave this to being controlled by the camera electronically.
> you can't jiggle the film around to keep it in the same place.
Contax had an AF solution (Contax AX) that actually moved the entire film plane to focus. I suppose that the same thing could be done in other axises, but I also suppose that there is a reason that only one manufacturer tried it.
> Optical Image Stabilisation is effective with movement across a range of frequencies, so it can cope not only with simple camera shake (0.5Hz to 3Hz), but also with the engine vibrations encountered when shooting from a moving vehicle or helicopter (10Hz to 20Hz).
https://www.discoverdigitalphotography.com/2012/lens-mounts-...
The "AF-D" lenses have contacts back to the camera body that communicate distance information (that is in turn used by the camera body to calculate flash power).
The G mount lenses remove the manual coupling for the f/stop which means that only bodies that can control the aperture from the body can use them. My FM3A has no aperture control on the body and so with that camera, I unlock the aperture ring.
The AF-S camera lenses have the focusing motor in the body.
VR in Nikon is done in lens. https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/80400vr.htm It needs to - you can't jiggle the film around to keep it in the same place.
---
The impressive part of Nikon's compatibility isn't only the "you can use an AI-S lens on a modern (professional) body, but also "you can use any of the F mount lenses on an old body" (the G lenses don't have the f/stop ring and the E lenses have the focus motor in the lens).
While it appears that Nikon has mostly shifted to E and G mount, third party lenses are still being manufactured for the F mount.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1519140-REG/tokina_at... - and you can see all the parts of the F mount, manual aperture ring control, 5 pins for distance, '-' slotted screw for focus.