Patent: Eye-controlled autofocus for mirrorless cameras

jolyonralph

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I think people are misunderstanding what this will do. It won't move your focus point like a joystick or like the way the old EOS 3 did, it will simply feed back to the AI within the camera to help guide it to automatically detect what object you want in focus and where to start hunting for eyes, etc. You might even be completely unaware that it's doing anything, it will just 'magically' be able to focus on things properly. This is why it's only for mirrorless and won't work on a DSLR.
 
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I still want a thumb controlled joystick.

it is not mutually exclusive. And users can switch ECF on or off as desired - even on the 1990''s Canon SLRs there's a simple, straightforward hardware switch: OFF / ON / Calibrate.

"The EOS 3 stands out because of its extraordinary autofocus system, which clairvoyantly reads your mind to know exactly which of its sea of 45 AF sensors to use for each shot. The EOS 3's AF system is so much faster and easier to use and to set than anything available today.

When I first picked it up, I was astonished at how it just knew where I wanted it to focus, without me having to to do anything. No matter if I wanted to focus on the obvious part of an image, or a subtle, low-contrast item off to the side, the EOS 3 somehow just knew, and magically used the correct AF sensor every time.

Then I realized that it has Eye Controlled Focus, a name which doesn't do this system justice. It should be called "mind-controlled autofocus," since you don't have to do anything to control the AF system other than just shoot. The AF system is constantly looking at your eye, and already knows where you're looking when you press the shutter, so without you even having to think, the EOS 3 already knows where it needs to focus, and it just does.

The EOS 3's AF system is far ahead of today's cameras, which no longer use this expensive system. With newer cameras, we again have to slave through dicking around with knobs and dials to choose AF points, something the EOS 3 does all by itself by magic.

If for some reason you dislike the magic mind-reading AF system, it's easy to set back to old-fashioned manual AF point selection, or also can be set to auto AF point selection, which works as well as the same non-mind-reading modes of today's cameras."
 
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2019 sensors to track optical axis of user's eye should also be a lot higher-resolution than old 1990's implementations. I don't see a real issue controlling 80 megapixel DPAF points with a decent eye-tracking sensor plus some AI magic, a solid DIGIC processor and "multi-click gestures", like eg a simple "double blink" to lock onto a selected part / subject in the image frame. Combined with 3D motion tracking, face and subject eye tracking. "Canon can" right?
 
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The Elans were always in the shadow of the 1/3/5 series. Like comparing a 5D Mk 3 to a T3i.

Elan 7E is well above any Rebel series SLR. It is basically a film predecessor (launched 2000) in line with later EOS 10D model which also had 7 AF point system (intermediate D30 and D60 models had only 3 AF fields).

EOS 3 AF system is a lot more refined with 45 AF points, so ECF needed to be a lot more precise.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Canon might do that. But, why would it?

At this moment, you added FUD to this discussion. We do not know what Canon will do. Nor do we have enough information about the tech to guess at what cameras would work with this technology.
Market segmentation. Technical reasons – as pointed out above, size of the needed sensor and EVF. Cost – inclusion would necessitate too high a price for the M line.

Or for your personal hobby-horse reasons – because they have disdain for their customers and treat them with scorn.

It’s sad that you’re fearful, uncertain and full of doubt. Must be challenging to go through life like that, perhaps that accounts at least in part for your behavior.
 
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sdz

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Sep 13, 2016
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Market segmentation. Technical reasons – as pointed out above, size of the needed sensor and EVF. Cost – inclusion would necessitate too high a price for the M line.

Or for your personal hobby-horse reasons – because they have disdain for their customers and treat them with scorn.

It’s sad that you’re fearful, uncertain and full of doubt. Must be challenging to go through life like that, perhaps that accounts at least in part for your behavior.

Blahhh haa, ha! FUD = Bull S**T
 
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