The dangers of AF: camera mistakes ref's bald head for soccer ball in live game!

The dangers of AF: camera mistakes ref's bald head for soccer ball in live game!

The dangers of relying on AI-driven autofocus systems became very apparent during a recent professional soccer match, where the hard camera's tracking system kept mistaking a linesman's bald head for the game ball.

Autofocus and tracking systems are increasingly big selling points of modern cameras, whether it's the animal AF in cameras like the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6, the face and eye tracking of the likes of the Sony A7R IV, or the head detect autofocus of the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III – which would have come in handy for this match! 

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James Artaius
Editor

James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.