[marisalwy]

(Information from web)

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G — You used to have to manually adjust the lens aperture by rotating a ring near the lens mount. Once Nikon started producing cameras that allowed you to control aperture electronically from the body, aperture rings persisted solely for backward compatibility. Eventually Nikon started releasing "Series G" lenses that lacked aperture rings. In some cases this was done to save manufacturing costs on consumer lenses so G lenses incorrectly earned the reputation of being cheap. The truth is though that even some of the earliest G lenses were truly professional quality. Nikon has stated that one reason they did away with the aperture ring is that there physically wasn't room to fit aperture rings, Silent Wave (AF-S) motors, and Vibration Reduction (VR) components in a lens at the same time. Nowadays G lenses are the norm, but they were quite controversial when introduced. Seems kind of silly now.