Can Canon AF do real time tracking of objects (not just faces,eyes,cars,animals etc)?

onathan Thill wrote:

It is almost like Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc all have different AF systems. Also seems they all have different upsides and downsides. Neat.

As for locking onto a focus point My R3 and R7 can do this in a way that sounds like the inverse of Sony and Nikon. Enable\Disable [Subject Tracking].

On my R3 I have this mapped to one of the 4 front buttons and I my R7 I have it mapped to the one front button. Turn off [Subject Tracking] and the focus point is locked on the selected focus point turn [Subject Tracking] back on and the AF system will be actively looking for something to focus on.

I personally rarely use this as the Cameras seem pretty much clairvoyant in knowing what I want to focus on.

Cheers

Thank you so much for this. Instead of just talking you actually provided a sample. This is very helpful. Thanks!

From the sample you posted the performance still does not seem to be on par with the competitors in this aspect. Your video demonstrates quite cleary some of the "quirks" of Canons implementation (e.g. drifting from one of the figurines to the other, AF area growing in size). This will only get tougher if the scene contains more "depth" and a more complex composition of fore and background objects and if the "movement" gets more dynamic (this is not to critize your sample at all, just an observation from algorithm standpoint). Your sample seems to reinforce what dpreviewTV already stated. ("AF for any object tracking has to be babysitted, AF area is drifting" (tested in video mode) )

As I don't want to reply to each of the other new posts (not directed towards you) : Quite a lot of people in here seem to believe that if a feature is present that it is perfect just for being there. I already stated that I am aware that it is possible to mimic the discussed feature on Canon cameras, my point is the that performance varies between different brands and that Canon does not have the upper hand for this one single feature.

I would give a lot of money for a camera with a hybrid AF system combined from all the different brands (Canon AF speed and accuracy, Nikon tracking, Sony object detection, ..)

Thanks again!