Patent: The return of eye-controlled focus, but for mirrorless cameras
- Thread starter Canon Rumors Guy
- Start date
Damn that could take some explaining to my wife if I’m taking holiday snaps on the beach
Upvote
0
in my experience with the elan 7e which had 7 autofocus zones and the 5d2 i replaced it with that had 9 autofocus points in a diamond, i could use the 5d2's joy stick to get the focus point just as fast, and more reliably than the eye controlled focus thing.
Last edited:
Upvote
0
I had an Elan IIE when it came out and the Eye controlled focus worked like a dream. Hard to believe that 25 years ago Canon had that and never really continued with it.
EOS ELAN II / EOS ELAN IIE - Canon Camera Museum
Here, you can find out about Canon's Film Cameras > EOS > EOS ELAN II / EOS ELAN IIE, EOS 50 / EOS 50E.
global.canon
Upvote
0
Really interesting. I never had the pleasure of using the system previously, but it sounds like there are some mixed reviews on past iterations of the system based on comments in here?
I wonder if there could be some really great synergies with the current eye detection systems in mirrorless bodies already. For instance, a modern eye-tracking system may not need to be used for selection of a specific autofocus point, but rather subject selection. If you're photographing a crowded space with lots of people in it (i.e. maybe a sports field or a street filled with people and lots of faces), I could see a ton of value if you only had to look at the subject you're after and the camera would find that subject's eye/face. That could make switching subjects real fast, one would think.
Neat!
I wonder if there could be some really great synergies with the current eye detection systems in mirrorless bodies already. For instance, a modern eye-tracking system may not need to be used for selection of a specific autofocus point, but rather subject selection. If you're photographing a crowded space with lots of people in it (i.e. maybe a sports field or a street filled with people and lots of faces), I could see a ton of value if you only had to look at the subject you're after and the camera would find that subject's eye/face. That could make switching subjects real fast, one would think.
Neat!
Upvote
0
If you mean the diagonal labeled 15, that's a beam splitter, making it possible for the user to look at the EVF and a camera to look at the user's eye. This is not a DSLR body. But sure, it is not strictly speaking mirrorless, if that was your point.
Upvote
0
So they light up your eye with infrared LEDs and take a picture of it using a small dual pixel AF sensor in the top of the EVF.
They seem to go way deeper than just AF control with this. The patents talks about identifiying different users based on their iris signature and saving user specific subject preferences. If I understand it correctly, you and your partner could share a body. When one of you prefers taking pictures of flowers, flowers will be recognized as the most likely subject in a scene when this user operates the camera, and if the other user prefers birds for example, those will be their default subjects. Which also implies that the bodies will have greater subject recognition capabilities in the first place.
Wasn't there a thread just a while back about people wishing for more security on their devices? Seems like with essentially an iris scanner built into the EVF, that might be another application they could look at since they process that information anyway.
They seem to go way deeper than just AF control with this. The patents talks about identifiying different users based on their iris signature and saving user specific subject preferences. If I understand it correctly, you and your partner could share a body. When one of you prefers taking pictures of flowers, flowers will be recognized as the most likely subject in a scene when this user operates the camera, and if the other user prefers birds for example, those will be their default subjects. Which also implies that the bodies will have greater subject recognition capabilities in the first place.
Wasn't there a thread just a while back about people wishing for more security on their devices? Seems like with essentially an iris scanner built into the EVF, that might be another application they could look at since they process that information anyway.
Upvote
0
In a recent vote in Scotland whether this will be the future AF technology or not, the "Eyes" have it! 
Upvote
0
Would love to see this technology updated to the same extent that autofocus tracking has improved over the years. I still have the Elan 7E as my last Canon film camera, it was pretty good tech for the time...not perfect but it did work.
Upvote
0
I have an EOS 30v (Elan 7NE/7S) which is my favourite film camera and the last film camera Canon ever made (2003)
It works well including the eye controlled focus (for me anyway) and I found this feature works best if you use a large eye cup which holds your eye in a fixed position such as Hoodman's (which are also much more comfortable than the awful standard ones)
I believe people with low contrast irises had poor results though.
Just imagine how well it could work today especially in combination with DPAF ii and using the initial selection by your eyes followed by the automated eye tracking.
Great security feature too which could unlock your camera at the start of each session
Really hope this is included on the R7
It works well including the eye controlled focus (for me anyway) and I found this feature works best if you use a large eye cup which holds your eye in a fixed position such as Hoodman's (which are also much more comfortable than the awful standard ones)
I believe people with low contrast irises had poor results though.
Just imagine how well it could work today especially in combination with DPAF ii and using the initial selection by your eyes followed by the automated eye tracking.
Great security feature too which could unlock your camera at the start of each session
Really hope this is included on the R7
Upvote
0
Similar threads
