@don
I am criticizing such a LCD lens barrel display on numerous counts and levels.
1. It is "information in the wrong place"
Shooting-relevant information should generally and always be presented in the viewfinder or on the camera display (LiveView mode, mirrorless), having to look at the lens barrel is a distraction. Even when setting up for landscape shots - camera on tripod - deciding on distance, DOF, aperture and all other capture parameters, it would be far more helpful to have all information presented on one display. On analogue cameras this was physically not possible. On digital/electronic cameras it is: on the big main LCD of the camera and/or in the viewfinder - as overlay/bottom line info in OVFs, and even simpler in EVFs.
2. If Canon however, still believes there are a few people who prefer to look up distance/DOF info on lens barrels, then please make it "worthwhile" - on the right lenses and in a really good implementation
a) On a cheap consumer kit zoom lens, a few etched markings should be more than sufficient, since any serious photographer concerned about distance/DOF is not very likely to use an EF-S 18-55 for that task. Maybe not for Canapologists though who may be "always using the distance scales on their kit zoom lenses,for every single shot".
b) If Canon despite all of this still wants to put an LCD display on a lens barrel, then please make it at least "worthwhile" and "decent" ...
Zeiss Batis LCD is also "superfluous", but at least it is "nicely done and intuitive" - if you ever use it. It clearly shows DOF for currently selected focus distance and current aperture setting in one clean image.
It is an example for how a digital display can be so much superior to hard-coded analogue etchings on a lens barrel. It is just the display is in the wrong place. It should be shown that way in VF or on camera display, along with all other shot-relevant information like ISO, Av, Tv, EV +/-, flash settings & status etc.
In stark contrast to this implementation, STUPID Canon has just grafted the hard-coded lens barrel markings 1:1 onto an LCD display on the EF 70-300 IS II. Look at this. Which information display would you prefer?
Canon added an even more unneeded mode button to access additional display modes that do not show any distance/DOF information at all, but tell the dumb user, what focal length he/she selected on the zoom ring. And when lens is mounted on an APS-C camera, what FF equivalent focal length that would be. WOW. Just WOW. As if a single user of an EF 70-300 or an EFG-S 18-55 would ever care about that. I look through the viewfinder/LCD display and turn the zoomring until I get the desired framing for the shot. It is totally irrelevant to me whether i have currently selected precisely 149mm or 168mm or 199mm focal length. I will only curse my luck, when i find out that i am focal length limited on the long or short end of the zoom I have in my camera at the moment.
But ofc it is only me and all Canapologists certainly do need a lens LCD display on their kit lenses showing "FF equivalent focal length selected".