CHAPTER 8 HOW NEW TECH CHANGES PHOTOGRAPHY^129
The motors slide the element in
the direction opposite from the
direction the lens moved. If the
lens dipped down, the motors
push the IS element up. The cor-
rection takes 2 thousandths of a
second to complete.3
Shift image stabilization technology uses one sensor to detect vertical movement and another to detect hor-
izontal movement. Diagonal movements are detected by combining the results of both sensors. When
gyrosensors send signals to the lens’s own microprocessor telling how much the camera has moved, the
microprocessor quickly sends signals to the voice coil motors mounted at 90° angles to one another along
the edge of the IS lens element.2
1
Shift Image Stabilizer
This form of image stabilization (IS) is among the most common and is found in lenses by Canon,
Nikon, and Panasonic, among others. It relies on an IS lens element mounted among the other elements
that make up the complete lens. This element is like the other lenses that make up the complete lens,
except it can change position.Light now enters and exits the IS element at new angles
that deflect the light so it regains its original path to the
image sensor. Shift image stabilization is most effective
for lower frequency movements caused by platform
vibration or wind. This type of stabilization is usually
referred to as vibration reduction because it ignores the
larger types of motion associated with recomposing an
image or panning the camera.4