Better Available Light Digital Photography : How to Make the Most of Your Night and Low-light Shots

Fast lenses 131

fl ash. The SR mechanism is designed to minimize camera shake

by using magnetic force to move the CCD image sensor verti-

cally and horizontally at high speed, while adjusting the speed

of oscillation in proportion to the amount of shake detected by

a sensor built into the camera body.

Like Sony’s DSLR-A100 digital SLR, their A700 incorporates

Super SteadyShot image stabilization that’s built into the camera

body and, in addition to Sony lenses, is compatible with many

Minolta Maxxum mount lenses. Super SteadyShot image stabi-

lization is a Sony technology adopted from their camcorders and

shifts the image sensor to compensate for camera movement.

Because Super SteadyShot is built into the camera body, all

compatible telephoto, wide-angle, standard and macro lenses are

automatically image-stabilized. This allows from 2 to 3–1/2

stops of latitude in exposure and supports hand-held shooting at

longer shutter speeds than would otherwise be possible.

Sony’s Super SteadyShot image
stabilization that’s built into the
A700s (and other Sony digital
SLRs) camera body is based on
the same-named feature the
company originally developed for
their line of camcorders where
holding an image steady is maybe
even more important than in still
image capture.

With the Olympus E-3’s built-in mechanical image stabilization,

you won’t have to worry about blur caused by camera shake that

can occur at low light levels or with longer lenses because the

body’s built-in mechanical image stabilization compensates for

camera movement up to fi ve stops. The built-in stabilizer uses

Supersonic Wave Drive motors that collect information about

camera shake from a gyro that detects and analyzes vibrations

and moves the imaging sensor using a piezoelectric element.

The Olympus E3 camera body
incorporates a built-in image sta-
bilization system that compen-
sates the effects of camera shake
for up to 5 EV steps. The image
stabilization utilizes a Supersonic
Wave Drive and features two
modes: One for movement along
both the x and y axes, while
another stabilizes only the y axis,
which is ideal for sports
photography.