Six ingenious ways how Canon DSLRs used to illuminate their autofocus points (exclusivearchitecture.com)

by ExAr 49 comments 139 points
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49 comments

[−] ExAr 62d ago
This article presents the inventive solutions Canon has found to shoot beams of light into the camera's viewfinder in order to light up individual autofocus points. Six different approaches are shown using six Canon DSLR models between 1994 and 2009.
[−] geocrasher 61d ago
My uncle Richard is one of the inventors on Honeywell’s early phase‑detect autofocus. Patent US4333007A, which figures out both the direction and amount the lens needs to move instead of hunting.

Modern systems like Canon’s Dual Pixel AF in bodies such as the EOS R5 are very direct descendants of that idea, just implemented on‑sensor with far more processing power.

Every time I see an article such as this, I beam with pride. (Pun intended).

[−] Sharlin 61d ago
@ExAr I suspect your comment was downvoted to oblivion because people didn't realize you're the OP and thought you were an LLM summarizer bot :(
[−] BobbyTables2 61d ago
I’d really like to know how OP made all those superb visualizations. Must have taken ages!
[−] generj 61d ago
It’s impressive the optical complexity some of these systems use. Custom and complex prisms and mirrors to show the AF points.

Arguably more complicated than the anutofocus optics. The engineering of electromechanical cameras fascinates me.

[−] brcmthrowaway 61d ago
Does AF use LIDAR nowadays?
[−] TheSilva 61d ago
hijacking the thread to ask: under 200€ DSLR to get started?