Viz'art
Contributor
On nearly all higher end Nikon bodies you can still adjust the aperture electronically (via command dial) even on MF lenses. There is no need to physically move the aperture ring.
Rainer, it is not like me to contradict people, but I have read my D7000, D300s, and D800 manual, all say that while the display will show the aperture value (if the lens is properly indexed in the NON-CPU section of your menu) you still have to rotate the aperture ring to change its value.
>>From the Nikon D800 instruction manual, page 374
Compatible Non-CPU Lenses
When using non-CPU lenses and accessories, select exposure mode A or M and set aperture using the lens aperture ring. In other modes, the shutter-release is disabled. Non-CPU lens data can be used to enable many of the features available with CPU lenses, including color matrix metering; if no data are provided, center-weighted metering will be used in place of color matrix metering, while if the maximum aperture is not provided, the camera aperture display will show the number of stops from maximum aperture and the actual aperture value must be read off the lens aperture ring.<<
Just in case I missed something (believe me it happens ) , yesterday, I went digging in my trunk of old stuff and pulled out a few of the early Nikkor Ai lenses That I bought back when I started in the early 70s, in all case I could get the aperture to show in viewfinder and top LCD display, but in all instance I did have to rotate the aperture ring of the lens to do so, it confirmed what Nikon said. (Note, I have a mid 60's 50mm f/1.2 lens that I bought second hand and it did not have the "notches" on the aperture ting, it had only the old style fork, that one I could not get to work at all).
Unless the lens has a lockable aperture ring (an orange colored small f/stop being the visual cue) and electronic contacts on its mount, the camera will not be able to inform the lens of what aperture it should take, it becomes the responsibility of the user to rotate the aperture ring to the desired F/stop.
If you have found a special trick to get an Ai manual lens to work using the sub-command control of a Nikon DSLR, please share it with us. I have swapped and juggled Nikon Ai Manual Focus and AF lens on camera bodies from Nikon F to D4 for forty two years now and I am still learning stuff, but after carefully and meticulously going through the manual and the cameras menus, putting on four different Ai lens of radically different focal length (15mm f/5.6, 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 and 200mm f/4) none could be adjusted by the sub-command dial of the cameras and all showed the aperture on the LCD and viewfinder as claimed by Nikon.