Petapixel:
Olympus has said the only thing standing between the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and better stabilization is the rotation of the Earth—and so far, the camera’s bite is living up to the bark. In fact, the 6.5-stop stabilization is so powerful, it looks like you can capture sharp hand-held 5 second exposures!
If that sounds too amazing to be true, join the club. Even the photographer who captured the shots we’re about to show you can hardly believe it. Robin Wong, an Olympus Malaysia employee, posted these shots on his blog. Hand-held photos he says were turning out sharp at a whopping 5 seconds.
The photographers reading the headline immediately called BS. Check out the website of the original shooter. He’s got some amazing shots at ridiculous exposures. I love my Olympus M-1 but the Mark II sounds incredible.
Impressive
It makes sense that, once it’s possible to optically steady an image, the ability to do so would improve iteratively. It also makes sense that rotation due to the earth’s movement could become the limiting factor. Five seconds is enough rotation to create short star trails and, I imagine, likewise to create blur from the relative movement of a stabilized image.
Five seconds should be more than enough to shoot hand-held in the very-dark or to soften flowing water.
Five? I’ve heard of people hand-holding for 15, and one guy by leaning against a wall and pressing it to his stomach (and not breathing) up to 20 seconds.
Can’t wait to get mine on Dec. 4th! Sold my Nikons and went all Olympus Pro gear. Pro branded lenses. This is the body I’ve been waiting for. Love my Pen-F, but this is going to be even better.
Olympus has said that the earth’s rotation prevents them from making it work better than with this body and their new 12-100 f/4 Pro lens that has built-in IS as well. But then Olympus has always been a leader in IBIS.