I had a play with a friend's Canon with a USM lens and I am now converted to the benefits (of the USM not Canon!). Forget about gaining another nanosecond on focussing time, the real benefit is full manual override. Being able to tweak the focus because something moves slightly or the AF sensor is in the wrong place is a real bonus. AFS lenses will give the best of both worlds, fast, quiet AF with manual focussing. Also, for us poor F5 users, battery consumption will decrease. All focal lengths should be AFS for the manual override-it makes AF cameras the perfect tool. At the risk of starting a flame (please take this next comment as an honest, open opinion), Nikon have let us down in AF lenses. Whilst they have had to deal with the Canon patents on USM ( which has led to the delay in AFS) now that they are able to offer it, what do we get: 28-105 non AFS!!? Surely this should have been AFS. Canon offers USM in nearly all focal lengths and even in the cheap plastic zoom jobbies. And talking of focal lengths, the Canon AF line up is more comprehensive than the Nikon AF line (I know we can use AIS, but we should have a AF105 f2.5, AF135 f2.8 etc-it's called choice). Nikon used to pride itself on the 'system', but they seem content to offer only very expensive AF versions of certain lenses(135f2DC) or expensive AIS because of low production runs. I hope this doesn't sound like a rant because having tried a Canon for the first time (nasty plastic thing with an awful viewfinder), I now know just how good my Nikons are! But that doesn't mean they couldn't get better. Stewart
