eye tracking

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.

This is what the A7III looks like from a photographer perspective

Mar 28, 2018 by Udi Tirosh 6 Comments

Ever since the Sony A7III was announced, it drew quite a bit of attention. Some of the features like eye-tracking seem almost too good to be true. Photographer Manny Ortiz takes us for a ride in the ~~driver’s sit~~ photographers viewfinder on a shoot with the camera. I gotta say, it’s an impressive piece of kit.

The first thing Manny highlights is the eye-tracking autofocus. Look at the Gif below to judge if this is something you would enjoy working with.

Eye-tracking autofocus on Sony a9 is pretty impressive, here’s how it works

May 16, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment

We’ve already seen some of Sony a9’s impressive features in action. We’ve showed you how it focuses and shoots at 20 fps, and now there’s a video that shows its capability of eye-tracking autofocus. It’s pretty accurate and fast, and you can see it work on a person who moves, blinks, turns his head and more. Take a look.