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286 “Custom” (Gear icon) Menu Settings

users’ skin to too much nickel. It appears that Sony didn’t want the
headaches of producing product variations for each country, and so decided
to drop the feature altogether. (Why couldn’t they have used a different
metal to sense the hand’s presence? Beats me.)
So now Sony has decided it’s a headache to make different physical models
for different countries (video
standards notwithstanding), and so
they dumbed down this feature for
everyone: now instead of requiring
two criteria for starting
autofocusing (the eye and the
hand), now just one criteria is
needed: just the eye. And the
camera uses that little infrared
emitter and detector above the Figure 6-18: The IR emitter and
viewfinder to determine if the eye detector pair conclude that your eye is
is there (Figure 6-18). looking through the viewfinder
whenever ANYTHING is up against it.
The problem with this simplified (So make sure it’s your eye, otherwise
implementation is that needless battery drainage might
ANYTHING can make your occur!)
camera think your eye is looking
through the viewfinder, not just your eye. If you hang your camera around
your neck, and the back of the camera rests against your chest, the camera
will think your eye is next to the viewfinder and automatically start to
autofocus. Or if you carry the camera in your hand and rest it against your
leg (lens pointing to your right) then the camera will start to autofocus on
its own. (Actually this happened in the old days too, since the hand was
nd
holding the camera at the time, fulfilling the 2 criteria.) Waste of valuable
battery power.
This problem gets even worse since this camera has an EVF that is more
battery-hungry than the rear LCD screen when it’s on, and the camera uses
the same IR detector to turn on the EVF if it senses something proximate!
If you’re as paranoid about maximum battery life out in the field as I am,
this sensor arrangement can make for an unenjoyable shooting experience.
I’m always worried about “what is against the IR sensor now?” until the
power save mode kicks in (which I have set to 10 seconds).

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