When Sony announced the new second-generation A7 with its five-axis in-body stabilisation, I decided that many owners of Leica lenses would be attracted by the innovation. Furthermore, I was sure that the A7II would make an ideal second body for Leica M users. The current favourite alternative for M-types is one of the Fuji X-Series cameras. Not only do they lack stabilisation, introduce the possibly inconvenient 1.5 crop factor to change the field of view of popular lenses. Personally, I like having the alternative focal lengths to play with.
To some extent the omission of stabilisation in the Fujis has been answered, at least in the case of the, X-T1 by the addition of the fast electronic shutter (down to 1/32000s) which must be worth a stop or two of additional stability.
Until today, though, it never crossed my mind that the Sony’s in-body stabilisation might not work with manual lenses. The idea seems far fetched, but it has gained some credence on the forums. Fortunately, we can all breathe again. Brian Smith at briansmith.com has done some tests and has proved without a shadow of a doubt that the stabilisation does work, and work well, with Leica, Voigtländer and Zeiss glass.