Face detection feature

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shark149

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Hallo to all TP members,

Can anyone enlighten me on new features advertised by some digital camera manufactures called "Face detection"

This feature is now offered on the Canon D50 which is a high end body.

Does this feature assist auto focusing, AF tracking, White balance?

What technically is the camera doing for you in this mode?

Please assist
 
Hi there,

welcome to TP!

I don't own a camera with face-detection, but have heard about it. From what I understand, the camera is able to identify two eyes, nose and mouth in a roundish blob. And this then should help AF performance. I've no idea whether it works, but that seems to be the idea.

Some point and shoot cameras even have a smile-detector that triggers the shutter once the subject smiles - designed for frustrated parents trying to capture that shot of their miserable kids I think. But again, it's relatively new technology, so no guarantee it's anything more than a gimmick.

Oh, and it's Canon 50D, not D50 ;) the Nikon cameras are the other way round, so it can get really confusing :thumbs:
 
mind you if you cant suss out what a face looks like when you look through a viewfinder you're hardly likely to know what button to push to take the picture
 
well they already make cameras for idiots so why not the blind ? seemsCAN reasonable to meON
 
One interesting use is in Adep mode.

If you have a scene where people are at different ranges from the camera and you want all of their faces to be in focus, this will do it quite nicely. I've been playing with it a little and though I've never had call to use it, I've been toying with some scenarios for it.
 
My dad has a Panasonic P&S with face detection,and to be honest it's amazing to watch.

It puts a focus box round a persons face, and if you keep the shutter half pressed you can watch the focus box track the face as they move about the frame.

Probably only really use is party's and the like, but it's clever technology. I think it's just another tool they have put on cameras like aperture or shutter mode, not everybody shoot only in manual. :lol:
 
hyakuhei said:
One interesting use is in Adep mode.

If you have a scene where people are at different ranges from the camera and you want all of their faces to be in focus, this will do it quite nicely. .
Click to expand...

that'll be dof then ;)
 
It does seem like a bit of a silly feature. Fairly sure most humans with sight ability have face detection features too. Also the 50D isn't really a high end body. Its mid-range really.
 
and i have it on my compact, instead of faces, it detects all the bits of leaves in a hedge n stuff like that, it goes mental out in the woods, its quite funny!
 
shark149 said:
Does this feature assist auto focusing, AF tracking, White balance?
Click to expand...


I missed your new, so Hi, hello and welcome to TP



Put simply, the face recognition feature affects all functions enabled. (You may be able to manually set a few)

It will adjust the AF to the most useful focus point for each scene depending on the depth of field needed.
It will change the shutter, aperture and ISO to allow for increasing the depth of field, depending on where and how far all the faces are from the camera, how dark or bright the scene is; all in a bid to give the user a sharp photograph with everyone’s faces in focus.

As to which camera has the best system I have no idea, but as a guess and in general, as are most things in photography; I'd suggest its the speed of a lens (both with a wide aperture and a good AF system) that would be the leading asset in giving a a 'face recognition system' the best chance of success.
 
Does it work if you are trying to take a pic of someone whith a face like an arse? :lol:
 
I am guessing that chopping tops of heads off etc is a common error with most people when using a P&S. They are just not looking at what they are taking a picture of and relying on the camera to do everything. So by having a box around the key point of the picture this must encorage them to compose the picture correctly (better) and reduce the number of heads chopped off?
 
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