Optical Image Stabilization Mobile Phones

 

Varioptic, the liquid lens company, has announced that it has developed its first liquid lens, A316S, offering Optical Image Stabilization functionality to mobile phones. 

Varioptic’s Autofocus (AF) liquid lenses are used in consumer, medical and industrial devices ranging from full HD DV camcorders, bar code readers, security cameras, dental cameras to machine vision cameras. Liquid lenses have been in production since January 2007 and more recently, ramping mass production, with Japanese partner Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII).

Varioptic has now finalized the next generation of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) liquid lenses, correcting handshake. Today’s camera phones deliver relatively poor image capture indoor with a frustrating handshake blur. The new Varioptic liquid lens OIS functionality, A316S, compensates this defect, restoring an image quality comparable to a compact digital still camera (DSC). 

 

  A316S OIS liquid lens © Varioptic – Courtesy of Varioptic

 

With no moving parts, the new liquid lens, A316S, is very robust and uses very limited power (less than 50mW during a shot). The A316S liquid lens actuator, featuring both OIS and silent/smooth AF, is able to fit in typical AF camera module size.

 

“This unique OIS technology, developed by Varioptic, will enable our customers to integrate liquid lenses in camera phones in early 2011, accelerating Varioptic’s growth” stated Christian Dupont, Varioptic CEO. “Liquid lenses with Optical Image Stabilization will enable mobile users to take good pictures even in low light conditions as well as capturing stable and focused videos with their mobile phone. The next generations of camera phones will become comparable to digital still cameras and camcorders, while remaining compact and robust", added Christian Dupont.

Low light indoor photography and stabilized video capture has been demonstrated during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (15th to 18th February 2010).

  Christian Dupont, Varioptic CEO © Varioptic
  Courtesy of Varioptic

Canon improve Image Stabilizer

Canon has developped Hybrid Image Stabilizer (IS), the world's first optical image stabilization technology that compensates for both angle camera shake and shift camera shake. The technology will be featured in interchangeable single lens reflex (SLR) camera lens planned for commercial release before the end of 2009. (The first for use in interchangeable SLR camera lenses as of July 17, 2009. According to Canon research)

. Several different preventative methods and corrective procedures have been introduced to compensate for errors caused by camera shake, which occurs when a camera moves while its shutter is open and its image sensor is exposed to light.

. Canon began researching methods to compensate for camera shake in the 1980s, and in 1995 launched the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, the world's first interchangeable SLR camera lens to feature a mechanism that compensates for optical camera shake. Since then, the company has continued to produce a variety of interchangeable lenses with image stabilization capabilities, and boasts a total of 21 such lenses in its current product lineup.

. Canon's newly developed Hybrid IS technology optimally compensates for angle and shift camera shake. Sudden changes in camera angle can significantly affect images taken during standard shooting, whereas shift-based shaking, which occurs when a camera moves parallel to the imaging scene, is more pronounced in macro photography and other close-range shooting.

. The new Hybrid IS technology incorporates an angular velocity sensor that detects the extent of angle-based shaking and is found in all previous Canon optical image stabilizer mechanisms, as well as a new acceleration sensor that determines the amount of shift-based camera shake. Hybrid IS also employs a newly developed algorithm that synthesizes information from the two sensors to make optimal adjustments, thereby dramatically enhancing the effects of image stabilization during shooting, including macro shooting, which had proven difficult for conventional image stabilization technologies.

. Canon is actively engaged in ongoing research and development of interchangeable SLR camera lenses incorporating Hybrid IS technology, and is aiming for the early commercialization and inclusion of the lenses in a wide range of products.

.