First, I must admit that alot of what I "know" comes from what others have told me. In doing the WFP patch I relied heavily on others for alot of the information, Shredward and Steve Fabert in particular. What's left comes from digging around the net (I saw it on the internet so it must be true
).
I do not have good info on production numbers. My impression is that the Aviatik was the most prevelent type early on and the Alb C.III a bit later in 1916. maybe somebody will come along with precise numbers.
The Rumpler was generally the preferred aircraft as it was relatively fast, had very good high altitude performance, was very handy, and was generally the plane most likely to keep the crew out of trouble.
The Albatros C.III was a solid, sturdy aircraft. With a forward and rear firing MG it was far from helpless in 1916.
The Aviatik C.I and LVG C.I were 1915 designs that had a MG slapped on as an afterthought. Like many early war designs they were built with stable flying characteristics and not combat in mind, so IMHO they need to be cut a bit of slack in this comparison. I am not aware of much to differentiate them performance wise. I believe that the Aviatik had the observer in the front seat which limited his field of fire. One thing IMHO the Germans deserve credit for is getting these types out of service before too many aircrew were lost in them, unlike the British and French who insisted on flying Quirks and Farmans into 1917.