Eye AF is becoming the hot topic of 2019 as portrait, social and wedding photographers see its potential for sharp shots with moving subjects and wide aperture lenses.
The Canon EOS R already had Eye AF, but now it’s been enabled in the Servo AF mode too, bringing the EOS R into line with the newer (and cheaper) Canon EOS RP and Canon EOS Rebel SL3 / EOS 250D.
Portraits only look ‘right’ when the eye closest to the camera is in focus, and with today’s trend towards high-resolution full frame cameras and fast lenses used wide open, critical eye focus has become much more important, and harder to achieve quickly without dedicated eye AF technologies.
Other new features in the EOS R 1.2.0 firmware update include improvements to the Small AF Frame Size, which now also supports the Servo AF mode and is available in movie mode regardless of the Movie Servo AF setting.
• See also: Canon EOS R vs Sony A7 III
Canon EOS R firmware update 1.2.0 bug fixes
Canon has also fixed a glitch which could prevent the electronic level display in the EVF from working properly, correcting some issues with data display rotation and has sorted out problems updating the firmware for the wireless file transmitter WFT-E7.
The EOS R 1.2.0 firmware update should now be available from the Canon website in your territory, and is chance for Canon to make up some ground against its full frame mirrorless rivals. Nikon is planning its own major eye detection AF firmware update for May 2019, Panasonic has incorporated eye detection AF in its new Lumix S models the Lumix S1 and S1R, and Sony already considers itself a generation ahead with its own eye-detection AF technologies.
Read more:
• The best Canon camera in 2019
• The best mirrorless cameras in 2019
