I have no idea why Canon (and others) gave up on this idea? Too expensive - I don't think so. With the DSLR technology used currently, I am sure the "old" eye-control AF would be even much more improved if implemented.
As we see in this thread, it was hit and miss. This is different from having a feature that not everyone uses (like video or auto exposure). Those features do "work as designed" for everyone even if everyone doesn't use them. Eye-controlled focus too often did not work as designed.
I wear glasses as well and had absolutely no problems with my A2E focus. You do have to consciously "look" at the focus point.. if you just look at the viewfinder, it doesn't work. The eye control is the thing that I miss most from that camera. Composition was extremely fast.. It is great technology, gone with the secrets of building the pyramids of Egypt.
Gochugogi wrote:
ECF worked well for me with glasses on, at least with my Elan 7E/NE. I had to use a different calibration than when I didn't wear glasses. Also, some eyeglass coatings seemed to reflection the ECF tracking beam and mess it up.
This was how I was able to get mine to work...one cal setting for w/glasses, another w/o. I thought it was a terrific system on my Elan 7E...I'd love to see additional focus points on the 5DMarkIII along with the Eye Control Focus
I tried the eye control Elan in a shop and didn't really like it. I suppose I could have gotten used to it but I would have had to re-learn the way I shoot. I make sure the subject is in focus and then just before I press the shutter I glance around at the borders to see that the image is framed properly. When I did that final scan around the edges the camera would re-focus away from the subject. I bought the regular Elan instead.
