Let's talk about Face Priority—a feature I think often gets overlooked, but it's incredibly useful if you know when and how to use it. First of all, what is it? Face Priority is where you can register certain people's faces into your camera, and when it sees that face, it's going to prioritize it and focus there first.
The first time I came across this was about 15 years ago. I was helping a friend set up her new Panasonic point-and-shoot camera, and in the manual, I stumbled upon a feature that let you register faces in the camera.
I thought this was brilliant. Basically, you could register someone's face in the camera, and when you pointed the camera at a group, it would prioritize focusing on that person first. For my friend, it was perfect because she could register her grandchildren, and whenever she was shooting, the camera would focus on them first if they happened to be in the frame.
How cool is that, right? Now, unfortunately, this feature got phased out of a lot of cameras over the years. I think mainly because people didn't fully understand how to use it—or that it was even available. But guess what? With much fanfare, it's back in the new Canon R5 Mark II, which I think is the only full-frame mirrorless camera that has it. And I think it's a great feature.
Having said that, I actually heard a popular YouTuber—a YouTuber with over a million followers—say that they didn't get why anyone would use this feature. And I was floored! Really? Did he lack so much imagination that he couldn't imagine a good use for this?
So what are the uses for this technology? Think of a wedding shoot. Say you're photographing the wedding party. You can register the bride, the groom, and a few key people in the bridal party. When you point the camera at the group, it'll prioritize those people first, even when it's a busy scene.
Same goes for a basketball game. If your kid's playing, you can set your camera to prioritize them and not some random player. What about shooting celebrities at an event? It's a simple but incredibly powerful tool. If you have a camera that's capable of doing this but haven't used it yet, I definitely recommend taking a few minutes to set it up—whether it's a wedding or a situation with a group of people you want to prioritize.
And I don't even think you have to have the person in front of you to register the face. You could probably upload the images via an SD card or even use a photo on your screen.
So there you have it—a cool feature that can make your life so much easier. I hope that was helpful. Until next time, keep on shooting.
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