There will be zero difference between pics taken in ambient lighting with either D or non-D lenses. And scant differences between pics taken using flash.
D lenses transmit distance information to the camera for TTL flash photography. Only certain Nikon bodies utilise this function - F90x and later.
The D lens thing was mainly marketing hype from the Nikon marketing dept. to get users to dump their non-D lenses and buy ones with D.
So don't waste your time testing this and that - the differences will only be seen if you satisfy certain criteria like using the correct Nikon body, flash, lighting situation when testing. 95% of the time you'd be hard pressed to see any difference between flash pics taken with either type of lens.
BTW the 17-35AFS is a D lens. It's matrix chip transmits distance info to the camera.
