Ah, now I understand you.

The lens in question can be manually focused, but you select it in the camera menu, not a switch on the lens.
For most photographers, I assume focus is hardly critical in a 17mm full frame camera, as most planes will be quite sharp, even if approximate. That is a great advantage of the lens for a start, for everyday use.

I accept what you say about video--not my thing--but I assume when you are shooting video it is no problem to set that in the camera controls? If you are frequently switching back and forth, I can see how a switch on the lens is better. If I ever try video, I can set it in the camera--but surely when everything looks sharp in the frame, it is hard to focus manually with any degree of precision? (I can set the view screen to 10x magnification, if that helps.)

On the other hand, if there is a switch that can be set wrong, I am prone to have it set wrong. That is a reason not to have it if you can leave it out. My one and only wedding was my brother's, and no one else took pictures, and I had the camera set on the wrong shutter speed for flash synchronization with that model (not my usual camera)--no pictures. (It was a surprise wedding--we thought it was a birthday party--so I was trying out a different camera and only had Kodachrome 25 in dim evening light outside.) I had no desire to go into that field, but as it happened nobody ever asked me to.

I have some great Canon L lenses with a close-up switch for macro, so that is something else to go wrong, even if in theory it is a great feature.

It is impossible to accurately follow focus using camera controls. I sometimes use very wide lenses, down to 12mm, in video, and even then hyper focal distance is not absolute. 17mm is not that wide. Obviously Canon wanted to save money by eliminating the focus ring. I'm just saying that this is a lens that is not suitable for video work. People who only use AF, which is many, will have no problem and will appreciate the cost saving, no doubt. After all, phones are used for everything and have no focus rings either.

It is impossible to accurately follow focus using camera controls. I sometimes use very wide lenses, down to 12mm, in video, and even then hyper focal distance is not absolute. 17mm is not that wide. Obviously Canon wanted to save money by eliminating the focus ring. I'm just saying that this is a lens that is not suitable for video work. People who only use AF, which is many, will have no problem and will appreciate the cost saving, no doubt. After all, phones are used for everything and have no focus rings either.