The EOS R3 features Eye Control, a resurrected focusing system not seen since the days of Canon EOS film cameras.

This specialised focusing feature allows you to set the initial AF position according to where you are looking through the viewfinder. This makes it an ideal control when shooting subjects such as team sports where you want to focus on a subject which is not at the front of the scene.

Off by default, you can turn on Eye Control via the SETUP4 menu. This feature also needs to be calibrated before it can work effectively, which is accessed via teh same menu.



How to calibrate

Before starting the calibration make sure the camera’s viewfinder is clean and free from smears. If you wear glasses, make sure to clean these too and that they’re in a comfortable position on your face to use the camera. If you wear more than one pair of glasses, bear in mind you may need different calibrations for each pair as the curvature of the lenses may vary and this will affect the sensing.

STEP 1 Navigate to the Setup 4 menu, highlight the Eye Control feature and press SET(or tap on it with the touch controls) to enter the menu where you will find the calibration settings.

Another menu appears which has four options. The top one is where you turn the Eye control system on and off. For calibration purposes it’s irrelevant which you choose. The next item down – CAL no. – is where you go to choose which of the existing calibrations you want to use. If you wear contact lenses sometimes, and glasses at other times you may have your contact lenses on CAL1 whilst your glasses on CAL2. You have to switch between them and be on the right one in order to get the system to work. By default the camera uses CAL1, although it needs to be calibrated before it is going to work correctly. 

STEP 2 The third item down – Calibration (CAL) – is where the calibration process takes place, so either tap on this or highlight it and press the SET button to enter the calibration menu.

The final item in the menu is the Pointer display settings – this allows you to change what you see in terms of colours and icons when you use the Eye control system.

STEP 3 When you enter the Calibration (CAL) menu there are three options.

The first item is Start which commences the calibration process. Next, there is a Delete option which allows you to delete an existing calibration which is now unwanted (you may have changed glasses, or loaned the camera to someone else, for example).

The final option is Save/load (card) menu option. This allows you to save your calibration data to a memory card in the camera and also for that data to be loaded from that card. This is particularly useful for professional photographers who may have access to two or three EOS R3 bodies. It’s also helpful if you need to send your camera off for servicing or repair, as any existing settings may be wiped.

To start the calibration process, select Start and either tap or press the SET button. The next screen reminds you to adjust the viewfinder's dioptre in advance. If you have not already adjusted the viewfinder for your eyesight, it's important to do this now. 

Step 4 Once the viewfinder is set up for your eyesight, press the M-FN button on the top of the camera to say OK.

It is important to read what it’s telling you on-screen so that you use the correct prompts throughout this process – don’t just assume that you need to keep pressing the SET button.

The screen also indicates which calibration setting is currently being programmed.

STEP 5 This is where the actual calibration process takes place. In the viewfinder you should see a white circle with a dot in it – you need to look directly at it and press the M-Fn button on the top of the camera. Keep looking at white circle without blinking until it disappears.

You will then see another white circle with a dot in the centre at the far right and repeat the process until it disappears. This is repeated five times, each time with the circle in a different position: centre, right, left, top and bottom. It is important that you complete all five.

If you get the message shown, this means that the sensors cannot detect your eye position or movement. It could be that your glasses aren’t seated correctly, or that you looked away before the dot in the centre of the circle had fully disappeared. It is very important to maintain your gaze at the dot until the circle appears in another position.

Above – the circle with the central dot appears in one of five positions during the calibration process.

STEP 6 Once you have completed the process, this screen appears. It also tells you that, for more precise control, you need to calibrate for different lighting conditions and camera orientations.

This system is only as good as the effort you put in to refining the calibration process. If you complete just one calibration, the Eye control will work in a basic way but it may not be accurate or consistent, and in some light levels it may not work at all.

Step 7  You now have two options; 1) exit the calibration process or 2) refine the calibration.

It makes sense to highlight the Refine button and at the very least repeat the calibration process from step four onwards, holding the camera in each of the two possible vertical positions (i.e. with the grip uppermost and then once again with the grip at the bottom of the camera) whilst you’re in the same light level as the initial calibration.

You can then go back into any of the calibrations you create at a later stage and carry on the process.

STEP 8 Having done the calibration for the different positions in the current light level, you can further refine by repeating the calibration for each of the three positions in different light levels, if accessible at that moment.

Generally speaking, I would recommend calibrating it in bright sunlight, on an overcast day, indoors in bright light and indoors in low light levels as a minimum. That way the camera will know the size of your pupil in those light levels and interpret where you’re looking in various scenarios.

STEP 9 Once you have performed all the calibrations you want at this time, select Exit to complete.

If you sometimes wear contact lenses and/or glasses, make sure to complete a second calibration on a different CAL number using that eyewear.

To do this, simply go back into the Eye control menu and go to the second item down which says CAL no. Highlight this and tap it or press the SET button and it will take you into a menu where the calibrations are listed, select any other number and press the SET button. At this point you can go back into the Calibration (CAL) menu and go through the calibration process again.

If the calibration setting number shows what looks like a page with a line through it, this indicates that there is currently no data assigned.

STEP 10 If you have multiple calibrations on your camera, it is important to remember which one is which. To help with this, at the bottom of the CAL no. screen there is an INFO prompt – either tap on the prompt on-screen or press the INFO button on the rear of the camera and this will take you to a screen where you can enter a name for that calibration.

The letters are input via touch control and you have a maximum of 16 characters which allows you to be reasonably descriptive, for example ‘Contacts' and 'Normal glasses'. If you share a camera with others, then you can simply put your name in. If you do use multiple calibrations it is important to name them, as there is no other means for checking the calibration other than to use it.

Once you have edited the label for a particular calibration, press the MENU button to go back to the main part of the menu. Highlight the OK box and press the SET button or tap on the OK prompt on screen to save the text you have entered.

If you then go back into the Cal no. menu you then find that the calibration you have named will now show up as per your input.

As you can see, the calibration procedure for Eye control is very simple, and the ability to name the different calibration settings is incredibly useful.

It does not take very long to calibrate the camera for different orientations and light levels, so I’d recommend investing the time initially to get the most out of the feature. When I first got the camera out of the box it took me a maximum of 15 minutes to do all the calibration I needed to get it to work reliably. That’s time well spent, in my book!

14 February 2023