Eye control and digital EOS

[Hellashot]

I noticed that the 7 series of the Canon Elan film SLRs have an "eye control" autofocus point selection. You look at the autofocus point you want and it uses that one. Why hasn't that been incorporated into any of the digital EOS SLRs? I haven't used it but sounds like it'd eliminate the need for that huge dial on the back of the 20D and make things a lot simpler on the Drebel.

[Eric DeCastro]

the huge dial on the back of my camera is for the aperture. so i hope they don't eliminate that dial.

[flyfishnj]

I have two cameras with the eye control and it actually works. There will be people who complain about it but... I'm pretty near sighted and it works through my glasses and contacts w/o having to change "user id" -- maybe better with contacts.

I too would love to see it introduced on the DSLR line

[tbfoto]

I too own two Elan7e cameras and just love the eye focus feature. It is for real!. It is very accurate and I also wear eye glasses. Canon really did a good job with this.

[johneo]

I've got the Elan 7ne and it has eye control. Pretty cool feature and as mentioned it is very accurate.
Problem I have/had with it is I shoot a lot more with my 10D and found myself looking for it to auto focus after shooting with the 7ne. I never really gave it much of a chance so turn the EC off on the 7ne. Nice to have but I probably should have gone with the 7n.

The only other problem I found out I had was as I scanned the viewfinder I sometimes hit the shutter button without going back to the focus point I wanted. Just a little learning curve I never tried to learn (only used it for 3 or 4 rolls of film ... can I mention film here?).

Yes, it would and should be a feature on a future generation digital SLR. Maybe even other digital cameras too.

[MarkT8]

I read in the EOS magazine that ECF would not feature in DSLRs because of its power requirements.

[kb244]

I read in the EOS magazine that ECF would not feature in DSLRs because of its power requirements.

hrm maybe in a 1D/1Ds type model, that has a grip built in, and come up with a higher capacity battery to fit in it. :p

[pierrot]

I love this feature (I do wear eye glasses, too). Still hesitating to sell my EOS5 body just because of that. ;-)

[PaulB]

Not only do Canon say that eye-control is too power-hungry, but they also say that they found that most professionals don't like it at all. So eye-control is very unlikely to appear in future EOS 1 DSLRS and their successors anyway.
This Pro doesn't like it either......................

[KennyG]

I agree with Paul. The 1 series bodies will never see it as the professional market they are aimed at have no use for eye control. If you consider how the 1 series is used by the majority of pros, it just doesn't work.

[MarkT8]

I love this feature (I do wear eye glasses, too). Still hesitating to sell my EOS5 body just because of that. ;-)

I have kept my EOS 5. My advise would have to be DONT SELL IT because it is one of the best cameras that Canon ever made. I must admit that I don't use it much these days, but when I do, it always brings a smile to my face.

[Mike Panic]

i shoot an a2 film body and didnt see a need to spend the extra look for the E feature...

the 10d was supposed to come w/ "predicitive eye control" which kinda works, i guess

[tbfoto]

Paul and Kenny are probably right here but if you take those thoughts to the extreme then "Pro's" would only be using.... large format, manual focus, film cameras. There's nothing wrong with having a few extras built into your cameras just for the fun and conveince. I'm a working photographer as well and though I dont always use it in my work I'm very glad its there to use when I want it.