IBIS Shootout: Panasonic vs Fujifilm vs Olympus vs Sony
Dave Pardue over at Imaging Resource has just finished filming a crop-sensor IBIS shootout that you definitely want to check out. Using a specially-built four-camera “rig”, he shot the Panasonic GH5, Fuji X-T4, Olympus E-M1 III, and Sony a6600 side-by-side (by-side-by-side) so you can see exactly how the stabilization in each camera compares.
“In-body image stabilization is a key component to shooting good video, so we’ve created a special rig for shooting 4 cameras at the same time,” writes Pardue in the video description. “Shooting all four at the same time and at the same focal lengths, and with no OIS or electronic IS to come to their aid, [we steadily increased] the difficulty level to see which IBIS systems can take the heat as the bumps and shakes begin to rise.”
As Pardue says, they start easy and work their way up to more challenging scenarios as the video progresses. He performed 8 tests in all:
- A slow hand-held pan – 4:00
- Smooth driving vehicle – 4:27
- Walking down a road – 4:56
- Riding a bicycle – 5:50
- Bumpy golf cart on a smooth road, 2 tests – 6:28
- Bumpy golf cart on a bumpy bridge, 2 tests – 7:33
You can watch the full tests for yourself above, but the (spoiler alert) results are immediately obvious once you get to the more challenging tests in the middle of the video.
The two Micro Four Thirds cameras both did exceptionally well, with the E-M1 Mark III taking the top spot and the GH5 coming in a close second. The APS-C cameras didn’t fare quite as well, but Fuji made a strong showing for third, while the Sony a6600 obviously underperformed the rest of the field across the board.
But don’t take our word for it, check out the video up top or head over to Imaging Resource to read the full write-up. And keep an eye out, because it sounds like they’ll be doing more of these IBIS shootouts in the near future.
