Interesting, reading other people's opinions of ECF.
I'm a big fan of ECF, no a BIG FAN. My first ECF camera was the A2E (EOS 5) with 5 AF points. ECF was kind of slow, and only fairly accurate. On the Elan 7e (EOS 30) ECF ROCKS! Very fast, very accurate, very forgiving of eye position. The best ECF of any EOS body. On the EOS 3, the ECF is almost, but not quite as fast as the Elan 7e, but less accurate and WAY more sensitive to eye position.
On a camera where the AF sensors are all in a single line, like the D30/60, ECF would be less useful since it's easy to use the dial to move back and forth between the sensors. But as soon as the sensors are in any pattern other than a straight line, ECF gets much more valuable. This would be the Elan 7 with it's cross pattern of sensors, and the EOS 3 with it's wide area array of sensors. With these cameras, there are 2 axes of movement, making manual selection much more difficult.
After using ECF for years, my personal feeling is that if a camera doesn't have ECF, there's really no point in having multiple AF sensors. This is because I find it quicker and easier to focus and recompose than to deal with the complicated arrangement for selecting AF points on two axes. Even on a tripod I find this to be true. This is why I leave my D30, my only non-ECF SLR on the center AF point most of the time. About the only exception is portraits/people, when I'm in vertical orientation and will always want to use the right (top, in vertical) sensor, the one that will fall closest to eye level.
But ECF isn't a mindless miracle, it requires some setup/prep effort to work properly. It's not something you calibrate once and forget, as new calibrations add to, not replace previous calibrations. One should do a new calibration in any new lighting situation. Also, ECF can be sensitive to eye position relative to the viewfinder. The Elan 7e is relatively forgiving in this regard, the EOS 3 is absolutely unforgiving. I believe this to be related to the number and density of AF points.
Eyeglasses and even sunglasses don't seem to be a big factor in success or failure of ECF. I wear quite strong glasses (nearsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia) and ECF works a charm for me.
Finally though, there are apparently some people for whom ECF simply doesn't work. They can calibrate 'till the cows come home, be completely diligent about eye position and still have no joy. I've corresponded with more than a few of these people, and can find no common factor like eye color, glasses/contacts, ethnicity, nothing.
Lisa
I'm curious about anyone who has used the Canon cameras with the
Eye-Focus control. Is it a pain? Do you like it? Would you want a
camera with AF Eye-Control in it?
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