Nowadays people are like: You can't take an eye-sharp portrait without Eye-AF, that's too difficult.
Just because there exist Eye-AF, it's not a must have feature for great pictures or a great camera. Are the other photographers all idiots because they don't use it/want it?
I was alwas proud of my pictures when I got the eye sharp. For me it's lot of fun to nail it. Every single time. Eye-AF is fine (a really cool feature, maybe one day when I will be old and my eyes are week, I will use for sure eye-af for focussing) but less challenging.
i see it exactly opposite. every time i shoot portraits and then detect that of the umpteen captures taken, the one i like best for facial expression, emotion, personality showing through, mood and feel of scene, fabulous light from just the right angle, etc. ... all as perfect as can be ... BUT AF or manual focus has not perfectly nailed the shot ... (leading) eye slightly out of focus ... rendering a wonderful and otherwise perfect shot pretty much worthless ... trash bin instead of keeper ... it absolutely INFURIATES me, every time it happens. if my lack of manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination and/or shortcomings of technology I HAVE PAID for fails me and does NOT deliver the goods.
i am happy and have fun with my photography when I am (en)able(d) to create images that turn out exactly the way i want them. i take neither pride not have fun in my manual dexterity or skill as operator of complex equipment with lots of knobs, wheels, dials, buttons, settings and custom functions all of which i need to set in a specific way. no pleasure, only a plight and an obstacle in my creative process. i don't want having to fight my gear, i want my tools to SERVE me.
getting leading eye in a face in front of my camera into sharp focus is something that finally cameras can take care of.
Unfortunately EOS R is not able to keep that eye in focus in Servo-AF when my subject and or myself/camera are moving. Rushed to market, half- baked. Firmware update needed. lol
getting eyes into sharp focus is part of my OBJECTIVES for portraits, but not a task i want to perform "myself" ... when a few sensors, a little CPU and some smart algorithms can do it better than i ever could.
Creating an image exactly the way i envision it and want to have it, is something, no AI will ever be able to achieve on its own. That and only that is what i see as my task, my pleasure, my pride ... if i manage to achieve it.
i have highest respect for earlier generations of photographers who (occasionally) managed to create stunning images DESPITE the crude technology, FIGHTING with ugly chemistry, wet plates, mechanical contraptions and shenanugans of all sorts, darkrooms, etc.
They were not idiots, they did not have anything better at their disposal. You bet they would have been happy to use today's imaging equipment that frees us from (most) of the tedious, mundane, no-fun aspects of capturing photons, painting with light and create amazing images - provided we have enough imagination and creativity.
with today's imaging gear technology we are in a position almost like an architect who could create buildings "as imagined" without needing to deal with bricks, mortar, construction workers and builders.i like that.