EOS 5

A new patent suggests Canon’s eye-controlled focus may be coming back

Feb 19, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment

For those who hear about the fact that Canon used to have 35mm SLRs with eye-controlled AF, but have never had the opportunity to try it themselves, it’s an intriguing proposition. Look at something, and the camera just focuses on it. Sounds great, right? Well, for those that have actually used it, the response is very mixed. My dad had it on his EOS 5. He loved it. I tried it and I hated it.

The theory’s great, but the implementation wasn’t. Canon seemed to abandon the idea, but now a new patent suggests that they might be looking to reintroduce the concept into future EOS R mirrorless cameras at some point.

Canon may be bringing back eye-controlled focus to future cameras

Sep 20, 2019 by John Aldred 6 Comments

Way back when, before DSLRs, Canon had the EOS 5 (that’s the A2E to those in the USA). It was a pretty decent camera. My dad owned one. But one of the things it did which no other camera on the market could do, was eye-controlled autofocus. This wasn’t like the Eye AF we get today where the camera focuses on your subject’s eye. No, this was where the photographer used their eye to look at what they wanted the camera to focus on.

It was only ever used in a small handful of Canon’s 35mm SLRs before the idea seemed to be abandoned. But now, it looks like Canon might be reintroducing the system. Canon recently filed a patent (Japanese patent #2019-129461) for a very similar system so the folks at DPReview decided to do a little look back on the system and what it might mean for the future.

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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