Whats optical stabilization?
Optical stabilization such as “SteadyShot” is descended from Juan de la Cierva’s 1962 Dynalens design, a servo-controlled fluid prism used to steer the image before it hits the CCDs (in the ’60s, of course, it steered images onto film or onto tubes!). In the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, Canon and Sony updated this technology for use in consumer gear, and it worked so well that Canon now offers a SteadyShot attachment for some of their pro/broadcast lenses. The fluid prism is constructed of a pair of glass plates surrounded by a bellows and filled with fluid so that the entire assembly has a refractive index comparable to a glass prism. The angle of the prism is changed by tilting the plates; one plate can be rotated vertically, moving the image up or down, and the other rotates horizontally, steering the picture right or left. Rotation rate sensors detect shake frequencies and tilt the front and back plates appropriately.
Optical stabilization such as “SteadyShot” is descended from Juan de la Cierva’s 1962 Dynalens design, a servo-controlled fluid prism used to steer the image before it hits the CCDs (in the ’60s, of course, it steered images onto film or onto tubes!). In the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, Canon and Sony updated this technology for use in consumer gear, and it worked so well that Canon now offers a SteadyShot attachment for some of their pro/broadcast lenses. The fluid prism is constructed of a pair of glass plates surrounded by a bellows and filled with fluid so that the entire assembly has a refractive index comparable to a glass prism. The angle of the prism is changed by tilting the plates; one plate can be rotated vertically, moving the image up or down, and the other rotates horizontally, steering the picture right or left. Rotation rate sensors detect shake frequencies and tilt the front and back plates appropriately. Position sensors are also used so that in the absence of motion t
