Is there an advantage having the AF motor in the camera body?

[buckie]

Aside from a wider range of lenses, is there an advantage of having the autofocus (AF) motor in the body of the camera rather than in the lense itself?
Just wondering if was a heavier duty motor or better protected so that it would have few problems?
I didn't find the answer in any of the tutorials. I hope I didn't miss it.

[Bill44]

You've just about nailed the main reason for in-body motors. The in-lens motors are a lot faster at focussing.

[Colin Southern]

Canon's philosophy is that it's better to have it in the lens, for a couple of reasons ...

1. The charactersitics of the motor can then be matched to the charactersitics of the lens (eg obviously far more torque required to drive elements in an EF1200/F5.6 than in a EF-S18-55, but if driven from the camera then it would have to account for the worst-case scenario), and

2. If the drive motor is in the camera there is then the issue of mechanical linkage through to the lens.

[buckie]

Thank you again for the confirmation.

[crisscross]

I have a Nikkor 80-400 driven by motor in the D80 body and can confirm (no secret, but gets one magnificent glass at an affordable price) that it is VERY slow at focussing and also grinds continuous shooting to a premature halt.

I also wonder whether an in lens motor also creates some of the sensor dust?

[Mossy]

The side effect from having a larger lens selection (being able to use AF lenses) is that you'll get cheaper lenses. Case in point AF 50mm 1.4 veresus AF-S 50mm 1.4. There are advantages of the newer version, but the main attributes are the same.