DPAF Face detection

It seems I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that the face detection capabilities on the newer generation DPAF bodies (5dMKiv,80D,6DII) was improved. I was just curious if anybody has used this for portraits and finds it accurate enough? Does it seem to focus on nose, or more on the entire plane of the face?

I didn't know my 80D had face detection. I'll get it out and play around a bit.

Well, now I feel like an idiot. Portraits, eh? I spent some time shooting 18-135 USM VIDEOS! Face detection works really well, and tracks very quickly. DOF at f/5.6 doesn't come into play.

Perhaps I'll mount a fast prime and try again. Tomorrow. Portraits, right? I can be so thick sometimes.

Yes, portraits.

I am just curious when using wide open apertures like f/1.8 or f/1.4, if the face tracking will produce good results.

I know that face tracking works really well, but my question is what part of the face does it actually focus on?

My guess is that it will focus on the closest thing to the camera. Most likely the nose. I'll shoot a few around the house tomorrow.

Not sure it is because of DPAF itself. I think it has more to do with iTR. DAPF uses a hybrid phase/contrast detect system. Contrast detect is slow so they use phase to get it in faster and then contrast to fine tune if necessary. I think Canon may have piggybacked off that for Dual Pixel Raw as a selling feature.

digital paradise wrote in post #18529192
Not sure it is because of DPAF itself. I think it has more to do with iTR. DAPF uses a hybrid phase/contrast detect system. Contrast detect is slow so they use phase to get it in faster and then contrast to fine tune if necessary. I think Canon may have piggybacked off that for Dual Pixel Raw as a selling feature.

Canon seems to be under the impression that DPAF is phase-detect AF.
http://learn.usa.canon​.com …ual-pixel-autofocus.shtml
No mention of contrast-detect, which is indeed very slow, comparatively.

It is phase detection AF. But implemented in a different way compared to the traditional phase detection AF, introduced with the first EOS cameras in 1987. A method which is available in parallel in today's cameras, by the way.

Bassat wrote in post #18529165
Well, now I feel like an idiot. Portraits, eh? I spent some time shooting 18-135 USM VIDEOS! Face detection works really well, and tracks very quickly. DOF at f/5.6 doesn't come into play.

Perhaps I'll mount a fast prime and try again. Tomorrow. Portraits, right? I can be so thick sometimes.

Oh dear. Title Fairy's gunna love that.

digital paradise wrote in post #18529192
Not sure it is because of DPAF itself. I think it has more to do with iTR. DAPF uses a hybrid phase/contrast detect system. Contrast detect is slow so they use phase to get it in faster and then contrast to fine tune if necessary. I think Canon may have piggybacked off that for Dual Pixel Raw as a selling feature.

I just looked up the iTR thing. The 80D was a ground-breaker with LV/Video tracking performance due to a new implementation of phase-detect Dual-Pixel AF. No contrast detect involved there at all, and the 80D doesn't even have iTR.

iTR is augmenting traditional phase detection AF (mirror down) with face and color recognition. It was first introduced in the 1DX, as far as I can remember, and requires a comparatively high resolution light sensor (hundreds of thousands of pixels, instead of 63 or some oher traditional number).

Bassat wrote in post #18529286
I just looked up the iTR thing. The 80D was a ground-breaker with LV/Video tracking performance due to a new implementation of phase-detect Dual-Pixel AF. No contrast detect involved there at all, and the 80D doesn't even have iTR.

You are right. The 80D doesn't have it. I was looking at a chart of various cameras and seen YES for iTR but it that was for a feature next down on the list. C-AF In live view during shooting. That had the Yes. I just missed it.

I didn't realize they made that big of a change from the 70 to 80D. This is where I got that phase/contrast detect info from.

http://www.imaging-resource.com …f-the-canon-70d-explained

Bassat wrote in post #18529286
I just looked up the iTR thing. The 80D was a ground-breaker with LV/Video tracking performance due to a new implementation of phase-detect Dual-Pixel AF. No contrast detect involved there at all, and the 80D doesn't even have iTR.

That article about DPAF said that it was introduced with in the 70D. I had read about the 70D itself in another article.

Canon engineers came up with a solution, the Hybrid CMOS AF. Introduced in the EOS Rebel T4i, it is based on AF pixels partially spread out around the sensor, and by integrating image plane phase-difference detection and contrast detection, faster AF was accomplished.

https://www.provideoco​alition.com …me-changer-for-autofocus/

I had the 70D and now have the 80D. The LV/Video servo focus is HUGELY improved on the 80D. I recently bought the 18-135 USM and 70-300 II USM (both nano-USM). I haven't tried it yet, but I think I could track field sports with either of those lenses on the 80D in video mode. Both are incredibly fast and responsive. OK, accurate, too!