The Olympus 5 axis stabilization presentation video.
Great news folks! As you know the next bunch of A-mount cameras is expected to be launched in early 2014. And of the brand new key features will be the 5-Axis SSS developed in partnership with Olympus! As you know the Olympus E-M5 and the brand new E-P5 have that kind of tech. Sony and Olympus engineers are now developing it further to make it work on Sony’s next Full Frame cameras!
You can see the advantage of the 5 axis IS over the regular 2 axis stabilization on that video:
In short, not only will be the new 400mm f/4.0 A-mount lens be designed with Olympus. Also the new A-mount cameras will get some of the best tech from Olympus. I also hope they will use Olympus JPG engine knowledge to make Sony JPG’s look better.
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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!
100 Responses
Compared to Pentax and Olympus, Sony, which inherited the Minolta IS, had the worse IS, as it is a two-axis stabilization. Now, Sony will get the best IS.
Wrong..in reality the Pentax SR is less efficient than SS/AS, so calling it the worst is based on not having used other makers in the hand.
The main advantage for me is IS during video, let’s hope they can make it happen
Joe,
It stuff like this that could unseat the Canikon king!
Sure it will. That’s why Oly is now #1, right?
Let’s go over this again: Broken Flash system, sparse lens line-up, no OVF option, rudderless direction as to tech future, and updates so far apart that they skip a generation of tech in between.
That really makes those Canikon users willing to jump systems, doesn’t it?
Sony’s having a hard enough time holding on to the heavily invested base.
Dusty
Dusty,
I’m a Canon user. I’m still shooting with my 5DMKII. I know that Sony has failed todate. But this blog speaks to the possibility of the future, not about the failures of the past.
Yes Sony and Olympus are innovative and Sony is king in Video (owned some excellent Sony Camcorders in the past) but getting Nikon and Canon users to jump ship is a tall order especially with the ever increasing cost of lenses and money lost in switching is not practical; also People have got used to a system they know and trust.
Sony is no 1 in mirrorless and same there that not many people will money away from this system especially with Nikon and Canon late to the party and below par offerings.
I assume you meant “IBIS” rather than “SSM”?
It should be SSS (Super Steady Shot) not SSM…
Yes, SSM is the in-lens motor, NOT STABILIZATION.
It should be SSS (Super-Steady Shot), or SSI (Steady-Shot Inside – which is a new name for the same thing, though SSS is most common and well-understood.)
Well done Sony. Well done.
Only question is this going to be IBIS or ILIS
Guess that will really make the upcoming FF a-mount a real challenger for the top for once.
– 5 axis IS (from oly)
– better JPEG engine (from oly)
– Fast AF (from oly)
– Mirrorless
– DSLR size comfort
Seems like it is going to become camera of the year 2014 here…
IF they fix the flash system.
Hell, if they could get all these done.
I would buy 2 set straight away.
+1 more item… Auto ISO for M mode.
Sony’s current FF already has Auto ISO in M.
And the same goes for their current low-end model, the a58.
It is only the rest of us with a77, a65, etc. which don’t have this feature.
Comes with the upcoming firmware update perhaps?
+100
Flash… flash… flash…
one more… sRaw, mRaw file … 30mp is heavy during shoot in raw..
Sony’s raw files are already compressed.
If they were uncompressed, the a77 raw files would be 36 MB + metadata + embedded JPG.
And a99 files would be 6 MB larger than that.
Why the heck would you want an even more compressed RAW? There has to be an algorithm to compress it, you know… Might as well take a Fine JPEG in AdobeRGB as results will be pretty much the same.
BECAUSE compression that is LOSELESS won’t
A) hurt ANY DATA
B) LOSE A TON OF COLOR DATA BEING CRAMMED INTO ADOBE RGB.
It is possible to have BETTER LOSELESS compression because of better math.
This is great news.
I think the aproach should be – unless they get the overheating issue in video under controll:
3 IS Modes:
1) Sensor IS in video with a max of for example 5 Minutes and no additional crop.
2) Digital IS in video up to 29 minutes with crop.
3) IS off
And please make it as a buttom option on the camera (without any menu) just like on my good A300. I hate to go into the menu each time to switch IS on or off.
The EM5 does 29 minute videos and never has overheating issues during video, as far as I can tell. I think this method is more power efficient than Sony’s.
Soooo why buy Olympus if you get more with a Sony?
Not everyone wants the larger FF lenses.
I think you are talking about the SSS? (Super Steady Shot)
SSM is Supersonic Motor, that you will not make it moving in 5 axis……
This is not a top good news because I want this in NEX body more!
I wonder if Olympus would end up shooting themselves in the foot if they put all that in a NEX body.
I think they’ll be fine with it as long as their cheque is in the post.
This is A-mount rumor only, NEX will be using OIS, I think.
Not going in nex. Nex uses stabilized lenses. A mount uses in body stabilization.
Isn’t the 5-axis stabilizer built using super sonic wave technology?
This is probably one of the crown jewels in the Olympus treasure chest.
Well, considering Olympus has never gone past 4/3 in sensor size, getting Sony-shipped sensors opens up possibility for a larger sensor based body as well as allows the use of R&D funds towards something else.
Sensors are Sony’s crown jewel and there have been news/rumors that Sony is to supply Olympus with sensors, so i’m sure they’ve worked something out as far as licensing goes. People don’t go to Olympus solely due to their stabilization system. I’m sure 90% of buyers don’t even know the advantage of it over the SteadyShot.
Stan,
Wow, most people must then be living in the dark ages.
what i hope to see is.. off lens stabilization on/off.
that work on manual lenses as well. currently only AF lens will trigger the Stabilization..
Good news indeed.
Great news, IF they will put it in NEX and RX!
This is only for Alpha. Olympus knows what they are doing.
If they knew what they were doing, there wouldn’t have been a scandal.
Nah, if i were olympus i would only agree to sharing this if it does not impact my products directly.
Putting that into NEX and RX series is a direct impact.
I don’nt think it works that way. Sony did bring in a big bag of problems$$$ and gave Olympus their sensors and who knows what more, they can exprct something in return don’nt they. I don’t think Olympus is in a position to ddemand..
On the otherhand, Sony decided that the Nex has ILIS and I think they will keep it that way. Maybe IBISis to big fo r the Nex range, look at the humb on the OM th make the IBIS fit in that small package.
That hump is the viewfinder.
The EP5 has the same 5 axis IBIS with no hump.
Sure, but it also makes the room that the sensor takes much larger. Have you seen the supporting infrastructure around an Olympus m43 sensor for the IBIS? I don’t think it would fit in a NEX around the APS-C sensor.
Considering Sony is Olympus biggest share holder they won/t want them to fail.
And de SSWF???
I am confused about what am I loving. Sony’s body with Olympus soul?
It is legal now in many countries. Crazy people..
It’s legal to inject someone’s soul into someone else’s body? Crazy times.
+1, actually
Sony: its time to sleigh the giant.
Deliver an affordable hybrid capturing device. Growth is about integration.
Integration has taken away the compact market—the task of casual picture-taking has been integrated into the smart phone.
To win future markets, it has to be hybrid.
Sony: delivery the ultimate hybrid!
Define “hybrid” please
Hybrid or Chimera?
[The Chimera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of three animals… (wikipedia)]
Uses both ordinary battery and petroleum based,hehehe.
I hope this camera comes out in 3 years or so… can not convince my wife to let me get an a77 replacement before then!
A-mount dead… with such development? yeah riiiiiiight! would be awesome if they could put it in a Nex too, to get away from that OSS… but I guess the mount hole is too small?
It would be nice to combine the Olympus and Sony tech to have great cameras in 1-inch, 4/3, APS-C and full frame sensor sizes.
From the video it looks like the Olympus tech was working during focus and for video. Sony right now with Alpha only use SS during the actual exposure and electronic during video. The Olympus system if it is not totally draining the batteries looks to be a big plus for macro and telephoto work.
Credit must be given where credit is due.
Bravo, Sony, we can definetely benefit from this in a lot of way, both for stills and video.
See how you can make good decisions if you set yourselves to do so?
Hopefully by the time I buy a new Sony camera, it will have that 5 axis SteadyShot system on it.
Good times ahead, at least for this matter.
It is clear that IBIS cannot fit in FF-NEX. But can anybody clarify if it can fit in APSC-NEX?
Why? Just make the body thicker than the current NEX cameras then problem is solved (and no, the flange distanced should not be a problem at the added depth is behind the sensor, not on the flange/mount side….)
Sony should really make two top models NEX cameras with IBIS. One, being the APS-C topmodel (7 successor) the other one being a FF NEX. the rest of the NEX range could carry on relying on those lenses providing OSS.
In my understanding IBIS wouldn’t fit in Ff-NEX because the FF sensor just barely fits in the mount. E-mount just having a too small diameter for a FF sensor that needs space to move.
Fair point, but that should be relatively easy to solve via software, as in worst case the camera could just apply a 0.98 or similar and insignificant crop factor when IBIS is on.
The camera would become more bulky, but I think people would accept that in a FF top model. If people want compactness over the bulk added by the IBIS then Sony could make a non-IBIS FF NEX 😉
Fair point, but that should be relatively easy to solve via software, as in worst case the camera could just apply a 0.98 or similar and insignificant crop factor when IBIS is on.
The camera would become more bulky, but I think people would accept that in a FF top model. If people want compactness over the bulk added by the IBIS then Sony could make a non-IBIS FF NEX 😉
+1
IBIS won’t hit NEXes. Get over it. It’s only for the A-mount.
You will see in-body stabilization in NEXes right after Canon and Nikon introduce it to their DSLR bodies.
Sony already does on sensor electronic stabilisation for video. Why wouldn’t they do the same for stills? Same tech would apply to A mount & E mount so it’s cheaper for Sony to simply re-use it. No moving parts.
Because that would require the sensor data to be read out several times during an exposure. That is a gigantic amount of data which the sensor and processor probably can’t handle.
If they could handle this amount of data, it would not be necessary to degrade video quality by doing line skipping.
Well on sensor isIS is impossible. the way it works in video is that they compare every frame with the previous one and shift it up, down, left or tight to remove the shaky video. This will not remove motion unsharpness.
The main thing about IS for stills is just that motion unsharpness by camera shake.
It is, afaik not posible to read out the sensor during an exposure, remove camera shake and place the frame back in the exposure.
Canon never lost it to Nikon in so many decades, but now simply without a fight is loosing it to Sony.
oh i want see this year ,if they had IBIS next year will compare about
Oly 5 axis IBIS,panasonic their new IBIS + OIS and sony 5 axis SSM 😉
Don’t get it. Not sure if the leap in Sony IBIS –> Sony/Oly. IBIS is gonna be that huge in practice, although I’m sure the marketing dep. will hype it just like Oly. have been doing…Sony IBIS and OSS in NEX lenses are already quite good and especially Active Steady Shot is amazing for video.
The huge leap would be to put IBIS into the NEX along with a physical on-off switch and at the same time introduce a FF NEX that would make Leica bodies redundant to everybody but nostalgics.
I agree. The two most important corrections are the ones which are already included in 2-axis stabilization.
Correction for shift sideways or up-down will only cause an improvement at short distances. If we take a photo of the moon, we can probably run several km sideways with the camera during exposure without causing visible shake, as long as we do not make any angular movement of the camera.
So the question is how small the distance has to be before we notice any improvement from shift correction.
And do we really know that we don’t already have this correction in our current cameras? The mechanic parts for moving the sensor will be the same since our current correction for angular movement also works by shifting the sensor. The only extra which has to be added is a measurement of the shift of the camera and a calculation of a corrective sensor shift based on focal length and subject distance. Even if we take the camera apart, we can’t see if this is already included in our current cameras.
Correction for rotation around the lens axis? Well, I imagine that I rotate the camera a lot less around this axis than around the other two axes.
Yeah, but 5 is 3 more than 2, that’s like 150% improvement!
Snarky agreement aside, could be good for hand held macro snaps, as long as the beetle doesn’t fly off because a huge black lens is coming at it.
I agree with spaceman. This advance doesn’t address any of the spots that posters here believe are the most egregious shortcomings of the system.
#1 is, undoubtedly, SUPPORT.
There are others that vary among user, mine are durability and sealing–but the single thing that I think everybody can agree on is SUPPORT.
Thinking back through different threads, I can’t remember a time when people expressed real dissatisfaction with the IBIS system.
I do not agree.
From a manufacturer pov, it is best to keep each product separate and unique.
Each product has to have its own mojo.
NEX’s success is bind to its larger sensor, slim body and smaller lenses.
To put IBIS into NEX is killing itself and shooting their own leg when they placed OSS on e-mount.
NEX series targets a different segment of consumers, they have to keep it small and stop increasing its size at all cost.
Putting too many features in it would only affect the cost and profit margin.
e.g. why buy a NEX-8 for $1500 when you could buy a a88 for $1500.
I do not forsee NEX being the one killing off leica, if you ask me that would be the new target for the next olympus OM-D to be released.
After they incorporate Sony’s sensor into their camera and their current capabilities and style.
I dare say they might have a good chance at that.
So end of the day, i suspect the the target market plan would be:
1. Sony Alpha Series – to challenge FF DSLR
2. Sony NEX Series – to challenge P&S/APSC DSLR
3. Sony RX Series – to be a test bed for camera design & prime lenses
4. Olympus OM Series – to challenge Leica/Retro/People who like Manual Features
Next OM-D killing Leica?! I disagree. What would kill Leica is a relatively cheap FF mirrorless camera.
A m43 camera will NEVER kill Leica, and unless tele-photography is going to be what all people suddenly crave then a small sensor coupled with legacy and current Leica will remain a niche.
FF NEX and Leica glass on the other hand could be the perfect pairing. An IBIS option in that FF body would make matters even more sweet.
Noone rulled out a possibility of a FF OM-D in the future. After all, Sony has a large stake in Olympus and is supplying Olympus with sensors. So anything is possible.
I think you forgot what size of the sensor does Olympus use.
Sony is getting more and more interesting. Now I hope in a good flash system (as Nikon is today for me) and some low-end glass revamped (like a 35mm f2…the Minolta one is hard to find)
Why not extend it to a 6-axis stabilization system = tilt & movement per axis, so the camera can also compensate for forward-backward movements.
At the same time by this you could also have an in-body autofocus resp. in-body-microadjust
+1 about autofocus
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-SLT-DSLR-Cameras/Active-Contrast-AF-idea-proposal/td-p/128813
That would throw off focus.
I would wonder if a 6-axis system could work inside necessary tolerances because it would require the sensor to not have any fix connection to the body.
A NEX including this would take over the world! NEX-1 and NEX-6s here we go! No need in all models/sizes.
oly jpeg engine? i wonder which would be more likely, oly or honami jpeg engine. and i wonder if the zuiko tech would be used towards the regular line of sony lenses or towards their higher, g line.
Maybe Oly’s programmers were involved in the development of honami.
Sounds Great… Now they just need to bring back the “Old” flash mount and have the f60 mount on the a99 and a58 only, lol.
But… hopefully it wont be one of these continuous things like… “Hey, lets change the flash mount to ‘sell more flashes’…& Hey, Lets make the Minolta maxxum lenses not work to ‘sell more lenses'” Because it has 5 axis stabilization and that’s the only thing you need to take a good photo right???
My guess is that both Sony and Oly want to make a FF mirrorless and that Olympus will make FF lenses for both or combined system. What I want is a good (lens) development for NEX, I didn’t step into NEX to by large and expensive FF glass.
Camera shake is the single biggest limit to resolution in the real world.
Since resolution is so important to me anything that improves image stabilization is a welcome improvement to me.
I would also like to.see both body and lens based stabilization work together to produce even better stabilization.
I would like to see a square sensor witb very high resolution.
Not only would this allow many croping options, but when even more resolution is necessary square pictures would be better for stitching.
I don’t think I’d care much about the JPEG engine if they’d add TIFF. The two main modes are 1) do all the in camera correction; or 2) RAW. Compression size of JPEG is getting less relevant as cards get larger.
I’d nominate weather seal and flash systems as the things we most need on Alpha, and IBIS as the thing we most need on NEX (because NEX is the king of using all third party lenses).
Tiff is good i totally agree.
My final output is always tiff and this would save a huge amount of time working with files.
Disk space is not an issue with todays high capacity storage devices.
Admin
Allowing editing of comments before posting would be very usefull.
Smart phones are not so smart when it comes to spelling or grammer and they insert stuff i don’t type.
Touch screen do not even allow me to see what i type as the text box is covered by the keyboard.
I really can write better than my posts would indicate.
I will implement disquis in autumn when I will redo SAR. SAR will get his own layout separated from other rumors sites 🙂
That’s great. Optical IS for video would be great. Although I hope Sony looks at it’s flash system and realize it needs major improvements…like the ability to shoot without it shutting down every 4 minutes.
Ok – i do believe one thing is needed within every sony camera – that’s to get rid of the battery’s inside the camera – let the fotographer run while taking pictures to generate enough energy – now we’ll get the 5-way stabilization system our dream may become true. (i’m not serious about this).
Anything thing other than a modern, all digital IS system is a waste of time in my book. The tech is there and it’s small enough to fit in something like a nex, easily.
Sony needs to work on a better flash system for the new mount and work with a company like sanyo and develop new battery tech or find a way to stick a a99 battery in a nex-9 or whatever it will be called. The battery life on the sony nex cameras need improvement. I use manual nikon sb28 and sb80 flash w my nex-6 but it would be nice to have a nice ttl flash that does not cost as much as a camera body.
So NEX users no luck?
only for A-mount?
Disappointing
Not at all. Everyone know that NEX == in-lens stabilization. So no surprises, no disappointments.
5-axis stabilization on the other hand is a very positive surprise for A-mount… IF it is really better than what Sony got now. Cause there’s plenty of mixed opinions about it (eg. improvement is rather insignificant, while it’s far less reliable – eg. According to Olympus this stabilization can be damaged by simply cleaning the sensor!)
Oly should not do it. Competitive advantages like that should be held close to the chest.
So, Sony is getting almost everything from Olympus and Sony is just offering some money and sensors? Wondering what Olympus users are thinking about this kind of deal between both companies.
Don’t get me wrong, I like what I’m reading lately here in SAR, but Oly users must be thinking that Sony soon will try to take over all development from Olympus and take it for themselves.
I’m an Olympus user. I’m pretty good with it, actually. Sensor tech is a huge part of bodies these days, and lenses are where a lot of profits are made. If sony is providing the sensor tech and olympus is giving IBIS in return, that seems like a fair enough deal to me. If, as part of the partnership, Olympus is going to develop lenses for these A mount Sony FF’s, that would probably be good for Olympus’s bottom line and a pretty great thing for the A mount going forward. While I love my m4/3 setup, I would be very interested in a FF mirrorless Sony system going forward in addition to what I have now.
Sony has same if not better effect like 5-axis with Balanced Optical Static Shot in their camcorders way before Olympus…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqGXoLEft-4
I believe the participants in the thread are already onwer of some A-mount sony camera or probably some SLR camera.
So in order to appeal them to buy new model from Sony, the model itself must be really special. Must be greater then great. And at affordable price.
Is this gonna happen? Don’t believe this at all. At least some improvement in SSS really not able to make this.
Current SSS in video and photo in Alpha models is quite OK. So major improvement is not simply possible. Just slight one. Which does not change game.
Souny could change game only, if it will make real breakthrough in feature set and image quality.
Image quality – is almost max for APS-C. The only thing to do left – is sensitivity increase iva getting rid of translucent mirror and antialiasing filter.
That’s promicing 1 stop extra.
Yes, better SSS would also be good for this.
And Video – here there is the major field, where Sony could gain attention back. Which recently shifted to Canon’s RAW video. But to do this Sony needs to make real quality video, not an artifically crippled one. And that’s the area, where teh major doubt simply arize. Sony will always affraid of cannibalizing her videogadgets. So this will not happen.
And thus future of Sony is exclusively in the miniaturization field. Like FF nex or so. But this leave no room to A-mount. As it’s way too big to be considered.