If I put a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF Lens on my D5100 camera, will the light meter work?

If I put a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF Lens on my D5100 camera, will the light meter work?

Yes, but the autofocus won't - you'll have to work out if the lack of autofocus is really worth the price difference compared to the 50mm f1.8 AF-S.

A lot of people say it won't be.

In the good old days of manual focus lenses, the film SLR's have split ring and/or microprism devices on the focusing screens to assist accuracy. Not on the DSLR's.

And as this person discovered, manual focus may not be ideal for selfies.

Yeah it'll work I would say pay the extra money for the af-s unless you are good at focusing yourself

Yes. Only autofocus won't.