Shooting without flash with aperture 8.0 and focal length 54mm at ISO 400 thanks to IS: no highlights and the structure of the wood remains two-dimensional.

CAMERA SHAKE. This harmless expression describes the worst enemy of photography. The only remedy: a solid tripod. With the new professional camera E-3 and the E-510 the engineers at Olympus therefore took an elegant path: they integrated a mechanical image stabilisation system into the body. The IS system (IS = image stabilisation) consists of a motion sensor, an ultrasonic motor and a flexibly mounted recording chip. As soon as the sensor detects camera motion it gives the servo-motor the command to slide the recording chip counter to the direction of the motion detected. The result: super-sharp freehand shots. Because the IS system is situated in the camera body and not in the interchangeable lens, the SLR photographer only has to pay once and can use the new technology with the lenses he has acquired so far. To control the stabilised image, the E-510 owner simply switches on the camera monitor via Live View with the object view button while keeping the IS button pressed. After the mirror has flipped up the object appears image-stabilised on the LC display. The photographer can now focus manually or leave it to the autofocus. Naturally, the IS system is also no guarantee for sharp photos every time, but ideally it extends the freehand range by up to five exposure value steps. As before, the old 35mm camera rule of thumb applies, according to which the reciprocal value of the lens focal length approximately marks the shutter speed at which shake-free photography is relatively certain. With a focal length of 50 millimetres this is therefore approx. 1/60th second. In the E-System with its ”extension factor“ of two compared to 35mm focal lengths, the borderline for freehand shots when using a 50mm focal length is approx. 1/125th second. With activated image stabilisation, the borderline drops to a maximum of 1/15th second. In practice, the IS system achieves an average gain of two three shutter speed steps. In addition, the E-System photographer can choose between two image stabilisation settings: IS 1 and IS 2. In the IS 1 setting the system compensates both horizontal and vertical movements (standard settings). In IS 2 the system counteracts only vertical movements. In plain language: this operating mode is suitable for dynamic drag-along shots of vehicles, runners or animals.

PHOTOS: IdeaTORIAL