Canon EOS 70D Dual Pixel AF Outperforms Conventional AF (dpreview)

dpreview added the AF test page to their work-in-progress review of the Canon EOS 70D. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF is up to expectation, it works so good that “the Dual Pixel AF system outperforms the conventional autofocus system – it’s more consistent, shot-to-shot and it’s more accurate, in terms of where it focuses“, according to dpreview. More after the break.

Two lenses were used for the tests: the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 (price & specs) has used for test, a lens known to be not always easy to focus, and the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM (price & specs). For both lenses “the Dual Pixel AF system produces greater accuracy than the conventional AF system“. When using the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM(price & specs) this discrepancy was no longer observed. Could be due to the STM design, or simply because of the smaller aperture.

Having a live view AF that performs better than conventional AF (at least on wide open lenses) is god news for photographers too, not just for videographers. However, there are also some shortcomings: “Dual Pixel AF does have its problems, most notably to do with tracking a moving subject during continuous shooting“. Never the less their impressions

of the Dual Pixel AF system are pretty positive – it’s one of the fastest live view focus systems in a current DSLR, so there’s not such a dramatic shift in behavior when you switch to live view shooting as with most DSLRs. We’ve also found that it offers clearly greater accuracy and consistency than the conventional AF system.

Well, I have a Canon EOS 70D and even if I can not provide a lab setting for an AF test (as dpreview does) I can say that the Dual Pixel CMOS AF is amazing.

[dpreview via dicahub]