eos 1v and eye controlled focus

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Hi, Can any one tell me why the EOS 1V does not have an eye controlled focus like the EOS 3?

Thank's, Ofir.

-- Ofir Cohen (ofirco@hotmail.com), July 14, 2001

Answers

Seems like the boys at Canon had to choose between eye controlled focus and 100% coverage viewfinder. Guess which one won?

-- Paul Alan Putnam (paulalanputnam@airtel.net), July 14, 2001.

1. Because manually choosing an AF sensor is faster in many situations, even letting the camera choose one may be faster, and often the ECF chooses a sensor the photographer doesn't plan to use.

2. Because a professional camera may be property of an image agency or newspaper, which will hand it to a various staff members. ECF works for one eye only, and you can't reset it like a custom function; so no-one in the staff could use ECF anyway.

3. Because Canon's marketing division wanted to force those who consider ECF the best invention since the discovery of photosensitive salts to buy two camera bodies.

I know ECF only too well and usually switch it off. Leaving CF 4 set to '1' (or whatever it is to activate the AF by pressing the AE lock button--haven't changed it since the beginning), using only one AF sensor, and recompose after having focussed, I'm faster than with several sensors and ECF.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), July 14, 2001.

plus, doesnt the 1-V have dioptric adjustment? i thought that was another reason ECF wouldn't work

-- peter bg (pbg333@hotmail.com), July 14, 2001.

I do not know why Canon does not offer ECF on the 1v but I have a 7e and can report that it has dioptric adjustment (-2.5 to +0.5) and has 5 different calibration settings for different users. I use the ECF frequently and find it fast and accurate.

-- Dave Rothstein (dhrothstein@aol.com), July 14, 2001.

Shortly before the EOS 1V was released, I read an interview with the chief (Japanese) engineer who headed the team that designed the EOS 1V. (I can't remember his name, but I believe I found this interview at the Canon 'Malaysia' website ). As I recall, he stated that Canon chose to not incorporate ECF into the EOS 1V because their cadre of consulting professional photographers (as well as input from consumers) made it clear that the ECF found in the EOS 3 (and other Canon cameras) was not "100%" reliable. Therefore, because the EOS 1V was aimed squarely at the professional photographer's market, where high reliability is expected, Canon chose not to incorporate ECF into the 1V. (Thank God). This same individual further stated that for those photographers who prefer a professional-grade EOS camera with the 45 point AF array, he felt that the EOS 3 already exists to meet those needs.

Oliver wrote: ".... Because a professional camera may be property of an image agency or newspaper, which will hand it to a various staff members. ECF works for one eye only, and you can't reset it like a custom function; so no-one in the staff could use ECF anyway..." As I recall, the EOS 3 has three user-selectable ECF "channels", which allows three different photographers to calibrate the ECF for their own eyes. In addition, I do believe that any given user can effectively cancel any previous ECF calibrations, and then re-calibrate the EOS 3 to their own eyes, simply by following the instructions on the user's manual.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), July 15, 2001.



Sorry, but my sentence which said, "... This same individual further stated that for those photographers who prefer a professional-grade EOS camera with the 45 point AF array, he felt that the EOS 3 already exists to meet those needs..." What I meant to say was, "... This same individual further stated that for those photographers who prefer a professional-grade EOS camera with the 45 point AF array, *and ECF*, he felt that the EOS 3 already exists to meet those needs. Again, I regret my mistake.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), July 15, 2001.

"any given user can effectively cancel any previous ECF calibrations, and then re-calibrate the EOS 3 to their own eyes"

Yes, but ... remember that in order to get ECF to function reliably, one run through the calibration procedure is not sufficient. That makes it impractical to pass the thing around from one user to another, expecting each one to spend a fair bit of time calibrating it in a variety of lighting conditions before using it.

Yes, the Elan 7e has both ECF and built-in dipotric adjustment; it's the only EOS body yet to have both. At the time the 1V came out, I believe another reason given for its lack of ECF (besides the engineer's point about ECF not being considered sufficiently reliable for pro use) was that the combination of ECF, dioptric correction, and a 100% viewfinder was not practical. The Elan 7e doesn't have this problem as it has substantially less than 100% viewfinder coverage - meaning there's more room in a reasonably-sized hump to put the ECF and dioptric correction hardware.

-- Steve Dunn (steved@ussinc.com), July 20, 2001.


I point out also that they did not put ECF onto the EOS 1N. Anyone see a similarity here?

The EOS 1V and EOS 3 have the same metering and focus systems, but for the lack of ECF on the EOS 1V.

The EOS 1N and EOS 5 have the same metering and focus systems, but for the lack of ECF on the EOS 1N.

Anyone hear an echo?

Ok, so the EOS 1N had high-precision focusing, which the EOS 5 did not have (but the EOS 5 made up for it with Cross-type centre point at all apertures down to F5.6). However, both had the 5 AF points with cross-type centre, and the 16-zone metering. The 3 and 1V both have the same 21-zone metering and 45 AF points.

Canon have had a habit of testing new technology in a high-end amateur camera before incorporating it into a pro camera. Each iteration of the EOS 1 has had a clear technology testbed preceding it (EOS 1 had the T90, with the 6XX doing AF testing, EOS 1N had the EOS 5, EOS 1V had the EOS 3).

-- Isaac Sibson (Isibson@hotmail.com), August 03, 2001.


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