One thing to remember is that the Nikon finders have a higher eyepoint than most others, so they work better with glasses.
The 28/2 has a cult following, but the 28/2.8 gives better results in all respects as long as you don't need the extra stop of speed.
I have a blog post up here that covers the legacy lenses in the form of a list of lenses that I have found have some kind of extra qualities beyond the quality rendering one associates with Nikon and Canon lenses.
G lenses don't have an aperture ring, D lenses have the legacy aperture control. AF lenses without the D extension don't send distance information to the body, so flash control is less precise as this is one of the parameters used.
AF and AF-D lenses mostly use the noisy but fast focus motor in the body while AF-i and AF-S lenses have built-in motors. To muddy the waters further, there are some early AF-S lenses that have an aperture ring and some late AF lenses that don't, and are designated G.