Eye Focus Shootout Between Canon, Nikon & Sony: Who Does it Best? (VIDEO)

Formal portraits and other people pictures are typically most compelling when precise focus is attained on a subject’s eyes, but that’s not always easy to accomplish depending upon your camera settings. Even if you switch from multi- to single-point focus, there’s often a better way to get the job done.

While digital cameras have long featured face-detect capability, the newest models take the concept a step further with an Eye AF mode that automatically locks focus on a subject’s eyes. And with some cameras this helpful tool extends to shooting in AF-S and AF-C modes, as well as when tracking moving subjects.

The “eye-opening” video below takes provides some practical advice on using Eye AF, and takes a close look at how easily and accurately Canon, Nikon, and Sony cameras perform this helpful task. As you’ll see, Eye AF can also be used when photographing animals.

We often turn to pro photographer Matt Granger for helpful tips, tricks, and techniques, and here he uses a Nikon Z7, Sony AF7r4, and Canon EOS R to execute the very helpful Eye Focus function. You’ll watch Granger photograph a pretty model while shooting with these three hi-res mirrorless cameras, and he reveals the lenses he used in the description below the video.

Granger shoots a number of images with each camera, both indoors and out, to determine which one delivers what he says is “the “best and most accurate Eye AF.” Even if you’re not shopping for a new camera, this video will inspire you to select your existing camera’s Eye Focus mode the next time you shoot a portrait.

There are more helpful tips on Granger’s YouTube channel, and in an earlier tutorial in which he explains the concept of “bit depth” and demonstrates how it affects image quality.

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