In article , nospam wrote:

Sandman:
Nikon recently released the "Df", which was meant to be a
photographers camera,

where you would (or at least on paper, could) get more
hands-on access to the controls.

nospam:
the best hands-on access are control wheels under the user's
fingers, not a shutter knob on top and aperture ring on the
lens.

Sandman:
I agree about the shutter knob, but I rather like aperture
controls on the lens. To each his own. The Df combined it though,
and you can use either, but not seamlessly enough. The shutter
knob can be set to "1/3 steps" leaving control over to the finger
dial, but there is no "auto" on the ISO knob.

an aperture ring on the lens is less ergonomic

Nah, this I don't agree with at all. Your hand is already there, and I've never
in my life felt that adjusting the aperture ring was unergonomic. I have rather
large hands though, so that may be a factor.

less accurate

How could it possibly be less accurate? Both the dial and the aperture ring has
discrete clicks for each step. The ring has the added benefit of having end stops
so if you have a f1.4 lens and want to set it to f2, it's usually a full turn to
the stop and then one click back. Both intuitive and quick.

makes for mechanically more complex lenses which are also harder to
weather seal

This is true, of course.

and there's no way to maintain aperture when swapping
lenses.

Also true, not sure I've ever seen this as a problem though, i.e. a scenario
where I want to change the focal length but the other lens is set to another
aperture so it's super messy to have to change it three clicks or something. I
guess if you find yourself in that scenarion often enough, it might be a factor
in it all.

a control wheel fixes all of those shortcomings.

Well, some of them at least. Well, if you ask me anyway.

plus, recent lenses don't even have aperture rings.

Indeed, which is something of a bitch when using them on an adapter, i.e. you
have to make sure to get the right adapter that has an aperture ring on it.

--
Sandman