The Panasonic GX8 was the first camera to utilize Dual IS, where you could utilize both Panasonic’s OIS lenses with the GX8’s IBIS. Which from the many reports I’ve seen is still a touch behind the 5-Axis IBIS on the Olympus EM5 II. Well all that could change, as Egami spotted a patent that reveals a Dual IS like technology:
Patent description from the Google Translate:
Patent Publication No. 2015-141390
-Published 2015.8.3
-Filing date 2014.1.30Olympus patents
-Interchangeable lenses
-Camera body corresponding to the anti-vibration
-A lens that corresponds to the vibration isolation, the blur to be corrected with the body side is only a roll direction, to shorten the correction period
-A lens that does not correspond to the image stabilization, you do not want to restrict blur correction in the body side
Olympus IBIS, but what about lenses?
Again, from the many reviews I’ve seen Olympus IBIS is still a little better than Dual IS featured on the Panasonic GX8. So it will be interesting to see what Olympus does to stay ahead, and if their technology will be compatible with Panasonic OIS lenses, because Olympus does not have any stabilized lenses. It’s rumored that the Olympus 300mm f4 PRO (which has been listed on B&H for quite some time now) has been delayed because OIS will be added. What’s interesting is that the rest of the PRO line (as with any other Olympus lens) does not have OIS… thus we could start seeing Mark II’s in the future.
Currently, you cannot use the stabilization of Panasonic lenses on Olympus bodies, it’s either one or the other and the Olympus IBIS is the way to go. As long as their new technology will be compatible with Panasonic OIS lenses… I’m happy!
There’s some reason to expect a dual IS system could work better at long focal lengths than either pure IBIS or OIS. IBIS is exceptional at most focal lengths, but as you increase focal length, the necessary precision of the IBIS system needed to correct the same motion increases… at some point, it won’t be sufficient. Of course, at some point you ought to be on a tripod anyway. OIS can of course be designed for each lens, but it can never do z-axis correction, and is less effective at x or y roll coreection than IBIS. So tge best of both seems like a good idea… and maybe just a softwate update?