Eye Control Focus

[BillyBean]

I've seen a few rumours around the place suggesting that the 5DX may include eye control focus, for the first time since the EOS3. I love my EOS 3 and especially the eye control, which I still use regularly, and really, if I'm being honest, the planned 5DX purchase is my upgrade for my EOS 3, not the crop-frame sensor digital I currently have.

There have been huge developments in processor speed and AF technology since the EOS3, and I wondered what you guys thought of the concept, who has tried it, who loves it, who hates it? What would a revised 61 pt version look like?

[SPG]

I still have my EOS 3. I loved that camera more than any other, but not because of the eye control. I didn't hate the eye control, I just didn't find it to be that useful for what I shot or the way I shot.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I have not seen any leaks or serious rumors.  I would expect it in a top of the line sports body, not a wedding camera.

However, just like video, if a person did not use it, he could turn it off, so its ok as long as it doesn't up the price.

[pdirestajr]

I love my EOS 3 too! Still use it a ton as my "Full Frame" Canon with 45pt AF! Don't care much for Eye Control, but it's a cool feature to have.

[DavidRiesenberg]

I was never a huge fan of it. Maybe I should have given it more time but the eye control never felt transparant enough in operation. It simply didn't work reliably enough for me to be able to just forget about it and concentrate on the composition. It always strained my eye to focus more on the focus marker than on the scene.

[jm345]

The EOS 3 was a great camera but I never got to the point where I was comfortable relying on the eye control for selecting focus points. I would much rather have more full cross sensors and autofocus at f8 on the new 5DMK III than eye control focus.

[dr croubie]

The comments so far have been a little tame compared to what i've read elsewhere about bringing it back, some people hated it with a vengeance. But maybe they just didn't realise that it could be switched off (similar to Video, maybe? Lots of people don't use it, so don't want their R&D Dollar spent on it).
I've used it a tiny bit on my sister's EOS 5, didn't 'train' it enough to get any proper use out of it.

I'd be happy if they put it back in, most of the R&D money was spent 10-15 years ago anyway, won't add that much cost to the camera. But I'm also perfectly capable with my 7D's joystick on the back to change AF point. Depends what you can handle more, RSI in your thumb, or RSEye... (groan).

Still, no rumours, except that paper I read a week before the 1DX dropped here.

Even as innovations like 45-point Area AF and cross-type AF points have led to more compositional freedom and broadened the possibilities of photography, we are still devoted to developing in the near future AF technology that will focus where you want it just by thought alone without any physical operations. This “dream AF” will astound you all.

I wondered then if that was referring to Eye-control, I presumed after the 1DX was announced that it was for that, but now i'm not sure, they could still be referring to Eye control (or ESP?)

[AvTvM]

I have never used ECF. But I would absolutely  love to have it. Of course in a 2012 version with enough processing power behind it to make it really work as intended. I want it to be 100% free of "training needs" - it has to work right out of the box.

To me it is the only natural, intuitive interface to create images ... eye on the viewfinder, looking at what you want to have in focus - and bingo ... consider it done.

If Canon would pull that one off, they would leapfrog any competition in the market by a number of years. It would really give them a unique advantage.

I would instantly upgrade from my 7D to a 7D II with ECF - provided it works the way I expect it - even if nothing else were changed!

[Marsu42]

I would instantly upgrade from my 7D to a 7D II with ECF - provided it works the way I expect it

My speculation that it wouldn't work as expected, no matter what processing power - eye control with a couple of af points seemed to be tricky then, but with 61+ af points it doesn't seem very probable to identify just the one you are looking at. And one af point miss of might be the difference between in and out of focus.

[BillyBean]

My hunch, for what it's worth: if you think about how far technology has come in the 14 years or whatever it is since the EOS3 was launched, then I suspect that Canon could do a much better job on eye controlled focus than in those days. And if you calibrated it correctly, it was (and is) pretty good. With more AF points, and more intelligence, I suspect it could be world beating. Maybe even those people who hated it last time around would learn to love it...

My son fences. For this sort of fast action, with constant overlapping of the fencers in the frame, eye control is fantastic. Not perfect all the time, but pretty good.

[Actionpix]

My last non digital Canon had this gimmick. For me it did not work. I wear glasses and assumable that is already a problem but the biggest "problem" was that for my action shots I always watch what is going on in the corners of my eyes. I was happy enough no more having to keep focus with a prism in the center of the image and letting instead a focus point keeping track. It surprised me the gimmick did not last but personaly I never missed it as I will never keep looking in one direction while shooting images and scanning the surroundings simultaneously.

[Hillsilly]

Canon could also tie eye control with contrast detection autofocus.  If you look at one of the focus points, the camera could use phase detection for fast AF.  But if you look anywhere else (ie corners), contrast detection could kick in and the camera can do its best to focus. 
 
Canon sold more eos 30s (aka 7e) than 33s (the same as a 30 but lacking eye control).  Given the choice, the marketplace seemed to like eye control.  And why not?  Its a system that works well for most people. 

[bvukich]

Canon could also tie eye control with contrast detection autofocus.  If you look at one of the focus points, the camera could use phase detection for fast AF.  But if you look anywhere else (ie corners), contrast detection could kick in and the camera can do its best to focus. 

Impossible with an SLR. For contrast detect AF the mirror has to be up, if the mirror is up the VF is black (so you can't see anything).

[Hillsilly]

D'oh.  Of course.   Thanks.

[Marsu42]

Impossible with an SLR. For contrast detect AF the mirror has to be up, if the mirror is up the VF is black (so you can't see anything).

That's not correct: I had a EOS RT with semi-transparent mirror back then (and a reaction time today's dslr can only dram of). You can certainly do contrast af with that, the only drawback is that it swallows half of your light. I wish Canon would release an updated digital RT - it's really nice to use a slr with no blackout so you can actually see what you're shooting.