New Canon Hybrid IS world’s first Image Stabilizer to compensate for two types of camera shake
evelopment of Hybrid Image Stabilizer (IS), the world’s first* optical Image Stabilizer which compensates for both angular camera shake and shift camera shake. The technology will be incorporated in an interchangeable single lens reflex (SLR) camera lens planned for commercial release before the end of 2009.
Several different preventative methods and corrective procedures have been introduced to compensate for errors caused by camera shake. Canon began researching methods to compensate for camera shake in the 1980s. In 1995 Canon launched the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, the world’s first interchangeable SLR camera lens to feature a mechanism that compensates for optical camera shake. Since then, the company has continued to produce a variety of interchangeable lenses with image stabilisation capabilities, and boasts a total of 21 such lenses in its current product lineup, including the EF 200mm f/2L IS USM which features up to 5-stops of blur correction.
Canon’s newly developed Hybrid IS technology optimally compensates for angular camera shake (rotational) and shift camera shake (linear). Sudden changes in camera angle can cause significant blur in images taken during standard shooting, whereas blur caused by shift-based shaking, when a camera moves parallel to the subject, is more pronounced in macro and other close-up photography.
The new Hybrid IS technology incorporates an angular velocity sensor that detects the extent of angular camera shake which is found in all previous optical Image Stabilizer mechanisms, as well as a new acceleration sensor that determines the amount of shift-based camera shake. Hybrid IS also employs a newly developed algorithm that combines the output of the two sensors and moves the lens elements to compensate for both types of movement. Hybrid IS dramatically enhances the effects of Image Stabilizer especially during macro shooting, which is difficult for conventional image stabilisation technologies.
Canon is actively engaged in ongoing research and development of interchangeable SLR camera lenses incorporating Hybrid IS technology, and is aiming for the early commercialisation and inclusion of the technology in a wide range of products.
Ricoh has released the GR Digital III premium compact camera with a fast f1.9 28mm equivalent prime lens. Successor to the GR Digital II, it uses a new 10MP sensor with larger pixel pitch than its predecessor. It continues the Ricoh tradition of high resolution screens, becoming one of the first compact to offer a 920,000 dots VGA panel. A new imaging engine, in combination with the more sensitive sensor promises to improve high ISO performance. It also gains faster AF and a ‘full-press snap’ mode that jumps to a preset focus distance for fast street shooting. It can also shoot a burst of up to 5 RAW files in continuous or bracketing mode.