Canon EOS 3 and the eye tracking with glasses problem...

[brianentz]

So I have two EOS 3 bodies and one of the reasons I got it was because of it's ability to track my eye movement and predict my desired focus point. In practice, however, since I wear glasses it's been more of a frustration than anything else. I know others have had success with the system, however.

My understanding is that I can insert an eye piece into the camera so that I can take off my glasses when focusing. Is this true and how (precisely) does one go about this?

 

[brucemuir]

In theory you should be able to get a diopter to match your eyeglasses prescription and the Eyefocus system of the EOS 3 should word as designed.

I say "as designed" because this system works better for some people than others.

Did you dial in the calibration to the camera's memory as explained in the manual?
This calibration procedure is essential if the system is to work with your eye movement.

edit: I should mention the diopters are made by Canon and can be hard to find these days. I might have a -3 floating around somewhere if you find out your needed strength I can dig it up and we can figure if it will work out for you.
I no longer have an EOS 3 and the -3 was way too strong for me anyway.

 

[Dr Croubie]

Yes, you can get diopters for the camera, just take one out and slip another one in.

Of course, being possible and available are different things. I know the focussing screens that are interchangeable also work in the current digital models (I've got an EC-Civ from a 1Dmk4 in my EOS 3 at the moment).
But for diopters, I don't know if what fits the EOS 3 will fit the current digitals (and hence be readily available), or if you'll have to go scouring fleabay etc. If noone answers this within a few hours I'll check my user manual when I get home from work.

Then of course you'd have to take your glasses off to use the camera.
Also, make sure you clear the calibration from the last user (if you got it second-hand like I did), just adding points to a massive dataset that already exists isn't going to help much.

 

[MattKing]

I program two separate calibrations into my cameras (in my case, an Elan 7e and an Elan IIe) - one for when I am wearing my glasses, the other when I am not. They both work for me.

 

[flatulent1]

The 'Ed' series of diopters is currently available at B&H. Though I recommend having another go at calibrating your ECF. I am left-eyed, and saddled with bifocals, yet after proper calibration I've had no problem with ECF on either the Elan IIe, 7Ne, or EOS 3.

 

[Peltigera]

My 50e works fine with glasses. I suspect the calibration needs doing again.

 

[Jim Taylor]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but my 50E fails to calibrate properly with my glasses on. I'm totally blind without them (+9.5 and +9.0).

I'm wondering whether there is any correlation between the strength of the glasses prescription and thus how large the pupil is (through magnification of the lenses in the glasses) that determines whether the ECF can 'lock-on' to your eye?

The main reason I ask is 'cos I've just got a great deal on an EOS-3 and I'd love to use the ECF on that (no great shakes if I can't though!)

For those people that successfully use ECF with glasses, it'd be great to hear whether you're 'just a little blind' or (like me,) 'a lot blind' and also whether your glasses have coated or high-index lenses, or any of the other myriad variables that are associated with glasses! This would allow me to narrow down whether it's me, the camera or my glasses that are the problem!

 

[Peltigera]

My EOS 50e and EOS 5 both work fine when I am wearing bifocal specs. However, my eyes are not that bad - around 3 dioptres correction if I remember correctly.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Reading glasses are usually multicoated. This coating interferes with the bouncing of low-range IR emissions back to the camera and confuses the proximal positioning detector which tracks the iris of the eye. It would be best to use a dioptric correction lens or supplement if it persists.