Originally posted by Ian
One thing I have no doubt about is the fact that in time Nikon will incorporate SWM in to more and more lenses.
And the first "consumer" lens to incorporate SWM will be the AFS Zoom-Nikkor 24-85 f/3.5-4.5G ED due out any time now, joining the AFS Nikkor 300f/4 which I would argue was the first
affordable AFS lens from Nikkor.
To further clarify on Canon's USM motors, there are two distinct types - Ring-Type USM and Micro-Motor USM.
CLICK ME! for more info on Ultrasonic Motor technology from Canon. Ring-type USM allows for Full Time Manual focus without having to switch out of AF mode, meaning that you can override the AF function just by turning the focus ring. Micro-Motor USM does not allow that.
So! Although a lot of Canon lenses have the USM tag, not all (but the number is increasing) can do FT-M. If you look at the individual lens charts here -
CLICK ME CLICK ME!! - you can see that a lot of Canon lenses are USM, but only some have the FT-M label (inferring that they use Ring-Type USM, altho i vaguely remember reading somewhere that Canon has also re-engineered newer Micro-Motor USM lenses to provide FT-M as well)
Here I have to lament Nikon's apparent lag in incorporating USM (or SWM) into the consumer grade lenses - for a variety of reasons not known to us eg patents, costs, already-good AF perf. without SWM, etc - but it looks as though we are seeing more and more lenses coming out with SWM.
And for those that think USM/SWM is the be-all and end-all of focusing issues (speed, accuracy, et al), let me state here that not all USM/SWM lenses are made equal. And I am still getting Out of Focus shots with these lenses ;p