Late to the party : comments on the V1

At first I shared your opinion, but the more I reflect on it the more it makes sense the way it is.

First, you have to understand the underlying concept of the V1 as a apparatus equally at home shooting video, stills, or anything in between. The mode dial is set up to select between the different mixes of video/stills. The traditional PASM controls don't belong there, logically speaking, as they are a subset of the selected mode.

While the F key could bring up a "quick menu", how much quicker could it be than pressing the menu key? Really, think about it:

Press "F" key, navigate quick menu to the ISO control, scroll to select ISO, press enter.

Press "menu" key, navigate quick menu to the ISO control (if its not there already), scroll to select ISO, press enter...

The main menu serves as the parameter setup. A few clicks gets you set up to shoot, accessing PASM, ISO, and WB, if any of those need to be adjusted. Then, off you go... On the fly, you have EV adjustment, AE lock, AF, timer, and, through the F key, access to the "shutter modes" all falling directly under your fingers. That just seems to me to be the better way to go about it than cluttering up the back panel with buttons for things like WB which you shouldn't be changing while you are busy shooting.

Now I understand that in practice people do want to flip from P to S mode while in the middle of things, but I respect - actually I'm in awe of - Nikon for insisting in the V1 that you shouldn't.  And for having the conviction to say "look, stop fiddling and let auto ISO do the work for you"...

Once you get on the V1's wavelength, I mean have that epiphany where suddenly it all makes logical sense and you see what Nikon is doing, you don't find it frustrating or "dumbed down", but efficient, streamlined, and empowering.