> I wonder why Nikon hasn't introduced an image stabilzed lens yet. Could
> it be that this technique is under a patent of Canon? Does anyone have
> information on this topic?
A very quick search of www.patents.ibm.com turned up some interesting
information.
It does appear that Nikon is working on Image Stabilization. They've
been issued a lot of patents in the last few months that cover this
area, for example:
US5854947: Vibration reducing apparatus
US5825546: "Macro" Photographic lens having long focal length and vibration
compensation
US5841588: Zoom lens system with vibration reduction means
US5852749: Vibration reduction device
US5850575: Image vibration reduction device
US5854529: Vibration actuator
These were all applied for in late 1996 and issued in 12/1998. There
are lots more that were issued earlier.
Canon also several patents which cover image stabilization, here
are a few:
US5315435: Image stabilizing optical system
US5069537: Image deflecting device
US4998809: Image-stabilizing optical device
US5140462: Optical system having image deflecting function
US5182671: Variable magnification optical system having a capability
of stabilizing the image
US3942862: Image stabilizing optical system having a variable prism
US3944324: Image stabilized zoom lens system
US5073017: Image deflecting device
US5661597: Image deflection apparatus
US5619030: Control apparatus for image blur prevention employing an
angular velocity and an image field sensor
US5107293: Automatic image stabilization device
US4788596: Image stabilizing device
US4780739: Anti-vibration imaging device
US5000549: Zoom lens for stabilizing the image
US4844602: Optical system for deflecting image
US5243462: Image stabilizing apparatus
Most of the Canon patents are from the early 1990's, but some (the ones
with patent number is the 39xxxxx range) are from 1976.
Olympus, Sony, Fuji, and Polaroid also have patents which cover image
stabilization and/or vibration reduction.
I'm not sufficiently "skilled in the arts" to be able to read these
patents and figure out if the Nikon ones are usuable without licensing
lots of the other patents. Also, a quick reading of some of the
patents suggests they'd be better application for video camera as
opposed to film cameras.
I do note that Nikon likes to use the works "vibration reduction" and
Canon like "image stabilization", so it's likely that when (if?) Nikon
introduces lenses with this feature they'll be VR instead if IS.
marcos
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