Image stabilization (IS) is a hallmark of the Micro Four Thirds system, helping to support the use of wide apertures and low light shooting with the small, interchangeable lens cameras.


Olympus and Panasonic, however, undertake markedly different approaches to the physical design of the mechanism, presenting a potential issue of incompatibility within the Micro Four Thirds system. 


Panasonic builds image stabilization into its lenses directly, including an element in the optical path that moves to correct for camera shake. Olympus, on the other hand, fits a shifting platform below the image sensor in its camera bodies that moves to offset sway.


Panasonic's optical image stabilization system utilizes a moving lens element to offset shake (left); Olympus's Micro Four Thirds cameras sport a shifting mechanism around the image sensor to mitigate camera movements (right).

Thus, cross-manufacturer compatibility with respect to image stabilization works seamlessly in one direction: optically-stabilized lenses (i.e. Panasonic) can be applied to a mechanically-stabilized camera body (i.e. Olympus) without issue - you can elect to use either system. Compatibility doesn’t work in the other direction, however; an Olympus lens (lacking a movable optical element) attached to a Panasonic DSLR or Micro Four Thirds camera body (without a shifting platform below the image sensor) will lack image stabilization altogether. 


It’s worth noting that Head-to-Head tests we’ve run on the two stabilization systems have shown nominal performance advantages for either approach. The distinction in this area currently revolves around compatibility and settings.