Canon R3 Eye DETECTION question

drsilver wrote in post #19550607
If your locked-on subject leaves the frame, you're done. It takes at least a couple of beats before it starts thinking about looking for something else.

I made the same observation. It's better to let go of the focusing command, which implies you better have that on a separate button than on half-press, and re-acquire some subject to track.

Me, frequently taking photos of runners in the woods, I've also noticed that once the R3 has found a nice branch to focus on, it will track that one until the fall when the leaves fall off, or so. Using a zone, even a pretty small one, to make it easier to ínclude a person to focus on is also contraproductive in these cases, since it just gives the camera a lot of things to pick from, things you don't want in focus.

apersson850 wrote in post #19551477
Eye detect is pretty simple. If there are eyes it can find, it will attempt to focus on that eye.
If there is no eye to detect, or it can't find it, it will fall back to however it's otherwise set up to focus.

For eye detect to be really meaningful, you should also track the subject and be in Servo AF mode, or you'll lose it again, as soon as it moves or you change the framing.

Thanks, but I was specifically asking about the EYE DETECTION AF function that can be assigned to a button. There is virtually nothing that explains or defines that. I do know what Eye Detection does But thanks.

And note that enabling that does not enable Servo nor Subject which must be enabled separately if desired. SO i see little usefulness of assigning that to a button.

rebop wrote in post #19551585
Thanks, but I was specifically asking about the EYE DETECTION AF function that can be assigned to a button.

And note that enabling that does not enable Servo nor Subject which must be enabled separately if desired. SO i see little usefulness of assigning that to a button.

I was specifically answering the question about eye detection, since not too surprisingly the difference between eye detection by menu and eye detection by pressing a button is - none.

If you assign eye detection to AF-ON or *, you can also select to turn on subject detection and Servo AF at the same time, if you so desire.

I think his question revolves around the specific issue of whether or not they are the same. With my R7, setting things in the menu is permanent while activating them with a button is - sometimes - temporary. The button is not necessarily a one-touch shortcut to setting the menu item.

If I use a button to select silent shooting, that stays as it is until I press it again. But pressing for something like spot focus or eye detect, not so much.

apersson850 wrote in post #19551701
I was specifically answering the question about eye detection, since not too surprisingly the difference between eye detection by menu and eye detection by pressing a button is - none.

If you assign eye detection to AF-ON or *, you can also select to turn on subject detection and Servo AF at the same time, if you so desire.

Sorry, not the question again. This is a Customize Button functions that can be assigned to a button that IS NOT a menu item anywhere. NOT the same as Eye Detection wheter menu or Button.

It is different than setting anything to Eye Detection with or without Servo.

Please check fro yourself so we can end this loop or tell me how I can better explain how this is not what you are replying to?

Page 976 of the manual:

Just to be very sure:

It's equivalent to starting AF with whole area AF selected and eye detection enabled. Think of it like a shortcut.

For example, I normally use 1-point AF, so if I press the AF-ON button, the camera will focus wherever the AF point is. However, I have Eye Detection AF assigned to the * button, which means that if I can see an eye anywhere in the viewfinder, all I have to do is press the * button for the camera to start focussing on the eye - even if it is nowhere near where the AF point was.

Have you actually tried this specific setting? I think it functions differently than you describe. It is not the same as one point and eye detection enabled.One might assume it is. Does not appear to be for me.

rebop wrote in post #19551888
Have you actually tried this specific setting? I think it functions differently than you describe. It is not the same as one point and eye detection enabled.One might assume it is. Does not appear to be for me.

Yes, I use it all the time. I didn't say it was the same as 1-point and eye-detection enabled. That's just what I happen to have assigned to the AF-ON button - that's my 'normal' setup. Assigning Eye detection AF to a focus button gives you the ability to quickly override whatever your normal settings are. If I see an animal move into the frame, I don't have to move the focus point over the animal's eye for the camera to detect it. All I need to do is press the * button and the camera will look for an eye across the entire frame and focus on it.

OK, then it enables eye detection in one shot mode where the eye detection toggle enables in servo mode. it appears.

So what is the use case for this? Why not, for example. set * to Servo, Eye Detection, subject detection people, eye detection and find and lock on the eye?

Appears it requires Subject Tracking on and Subject selected people to work. Agree? Same for Servo and Eye Detection then for me. Only difference is it selects an eye easily, though does not track it and is in One Shot rather than servo.

Or am I missing something more Scott?

rebop wrote in post #19551907
Appears it requires Subject Tracking on and Subject selected people to work. Agree? Same for Servo and Eye Detection then for me. Only difference is it selects an eye easily, though does not track it and is in One Shot rather than servo.

Or am I missing something more Scott?

No, it doesn’t require Subject Tracking to be on, and I only ever use Animal detection and it still works.

If you assign Eye detect AF to a button, all it does is temporarily set the AF area to the whole frame and enable eye detection (if it wasn’t enabled already) while you are pressing the button. The servo/single-shot and subject tracking settings remain as they were. As soon as you release the button, the AF area and the eye detection setting go back to what they were set at previously.

I normally shoot 1-point with surround, servo, animals, tracking on, eye detect on. I have Eye detect AF assigned to the * button.

If I press the AF-ON button, the camera will focus on and track the single AF point. If there is an eye in the vicinity of the AF point, it will lock on to that. However, it will not detect eyes that are not in the vicinity of the AF point. By default, the camera will only detect subjects and eyes within the selected AF area. If there is more than one subject in the frame, this lets me choose which one I want the camera to focus on by moving the AF point.

If I press the * button then, in my case, the only thing that changes is that the AF area will be set to the entire frame. This is useful if things happen faster than I can move the AF point. The camera will scan the entire frame for eyes (instead of just around the AF point) and if it finds one, focus on it and track it. The downside to this is that if there are multiple eyes in the frame, then I don’t get to choose what one the camera focuses on.

This is great. It answers a lot of questions for me.

rebop wrote in post #19551827
Sorry, not the question again. This is a Customize Button functions that can be assigned to a button that IS NOT a menu item anywhere. NOT the same as Eye Detection wheter menu or Button.

Ah, finally I understand what you mean.

If we refer to the page from the manual, that one you show in this thread above, it has two seemingly different settings.

• Eye detection AF
  
• Eye detection