Most people tend to think of image stabilization as being mainly for telephoto lenses. While it's true that their longer focal lengths tend to magnify the effects of camera shake, image stabilization can provde a very useful assist at wider angle focal lengths as well; anyone who's ever tried to blur the image of a waterfall, while keeping the surrounding landsape tack-sharp knows exactly what I'm talking about.
The body-based stabilization of the Olympus offers 1.5-2 stops of stabilization when used with the 12mm lens; it's generally easier to get stable shots with wide angle lenses, so the effects aren't quite as prominent. Still, you will probably see sharp results even at shutter speeds as low as 1/5 second, and if you lay off the coffee, even down to 1/2.5 second.
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| Mouse over this chart to show results with IS activated. |
IS systems tend to provide more benefit to less-stable shooters than very steady ones, so most users will see the same or greater amounts of shake reduction as we measured here. You can read more about our IS test methodology here: SLRgear IS Test Methodology, v2.
