First things first: I don’t like Nikkor AF-D lenses - I love them.

However, I noticed that some of my favorite AF-D lenses were listed as discontinued products, indicating that Nikon is slowly phasing out AF-D lenses and is only selling remaining stock.

Here is why you might want to get an AF-D lens while they are still available new:

Compatibility

Nikon was always concerned with compatibility. With the Nikkor AF-D lenses, they’ve created the most compatible F-mount lenses on the market. They can be used with any Nikon film or digital SLR ever made - without real compromises.

The 24mm AF-D is one of the best 24mm lenses available for Nikon F.

Aperture Ring

All AF-D lenses come with an aperture ring. This allows them to be used with any Nikon film SLR (e.g. Nikon FM2N) and on DSLRs, one can choose whether to set the aperture via the lens ring or the control dials.

Screw-Coupled Autofocus

AF-D lenses do not have an auto-focus motor (*) in the lens - they utilize the AF-motor of the camera. In practice:

If there is no AF motor, the lens can be focused just like every other manual lens (e.g. on a Nikon F3) without flicking a switch or adjusting anything.
If there is an AF motor in the camera body (e.g. Nikon D850), the lenses will focus accurately and quickly.
There is no motor in the lens that can break.
Unfortunately, they cannot auto focus on Z-mount cameras.

(*)There are a few AF-S lenses with an aperture ring like the outstanding 28-70 f/2.8. They are also fully backwards compatible.

Optical Properties

The outstanding 50mm f/1.4 AF-D with lockable aperture ring.

Good lens design means for me that the lens offers “character”. I am not really a fan of these overly polished lenses offering perfect corner to corner sharpness and clinical rendering.

While there are such lenses available in the AF-D lineup, most of them have “character” - that many modern lenses lack - while still being very sharp with plenty of micro contrast (even on ultra-high resolution sensors). A little bit of magic I’d say.

Note: When used on a digital Nikon body, they can of course be automatically corrected in-camera of course.

Build Quality

Some of the most exciting AF-D lenses come with a metal housing (Nikkor 105mm f/2 DC, Nikkor 135mm f/2 DC and many more), while the others are made of high-quality plastics on the outside.

It is just unbelievable how well made both types are. Professional quality without a doubt.

Value for Money

On the used market, AF-D lenses are absolute bargains. You get a professional lens like the Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4 D for around 150 Euro.

If you can find one of them new in stock at your local photo store, these amazing 50mm lenses go for around 300 Euro.

Final Words

Interestingly, the existence of AF-D lenses was one of the reasons which got me into the Nikon ecosystem. Having professional, high-quality, affordable and fully backwards compatible lens options was something that only Nikon, Leica and Pentax offered. I am sad to see them go and I can only recommend you to get at least one AF-D lens for your (D)SLR. Warning: You might end up with a collection of awesome lenses in the end.

Goodbye, AF-D Lenses?