Canon shakes up image stabilization

Canon today announced Hybrid Image Stabilizer (IS) technology, which the company claims is the first stabilizer to compensate for both angle camera shake and shift camera shake. Angle camera shake is the most common, while shift camera shake is said to occur when a camera moves parallel to the imaging scene, and is more pronounced in macro and other close-range photography.

According to Canon, the new technology incorporates an angular velocity sensor that detects the extent of angle-based shaking and is found in all previous Canon 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 synthesizes information from the two sensors to make optimal adjustments, thereby dramatically enhancing the effects of image stabilization during shooting, including macro shooting, which had proven difficult for conventional image stabilization technologies.

Canon has been refining image stabilization since introducing the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM in 1995. The company says it has been researching ways to compensate for camera shake since the 1980s and is "actively engaged in ongoing research and development of of interchangeable SLR camera lenses incorporating Hybrid IS technology, and is aiming for the early commercialization and inclusion of the lenses in a wide range of products."