OK, a friend of mine was thinking of going digital, but his problem is this....

Will the D200/D70s or even the D50 meter with a manual focus lens(tokina 400f5.6 SD MF) or the Nikkor 500F4P .I would think the 500F4P will meter on any current nikon camera due to the P chip.

I'm pretty sure that the D200 meters with manual focus lenses (AI and AIS) based on what I've read. Before it was introduced, you had to have a pro body (D1, D1H, D1X, D2H, D2HS, D2X) to have this function. The D50 and D70 won't meter manual focus lenses - but any of them should work just fine with the 500 P lens, just because of the "P".