Olympus Stylus SH-1 shown off for the first time

Is this the beginning of the end of shaky pictures taken on compacts?

Olympus has unveiled a compact camera that could mean the end of blurry images.

The Olympus Stylus SH–1 is one of the first compact cameras to come with five-axis optical image stabilisation (OIS). Most compacts only come with OIS on the yaw and pitch axis.

Most compact cameras suffer from movement around the lens. That is largely caused by the weight of the lens on the front of the much smaller body. They also suffer from side-to-side shake due to their size – an issue that becomes very apparent when taking macro shots.

According to Olympus, the SH–1 is able to fix optical image blur on all five planes of movement. It isn't just photos that benefit – its HD video also is helped by the OIS. The company said the SH–1 is able to correct images using the OIS at up to 240fps.

Not just a one trick pony

In addition to the five axis OIS, the Olympus SH–1 comes with a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor and the same TruePic VII processor found in its OM-D series. As for the lens, it comes with a 25mm–600mm 24x optical zoom.

If it looks familiar, that's because it is. Design-wise, it's very similar to Olympus' Pen E-P5. It comes with a three-inch 460k dot LCD touch screen display and a Wi-Fi share button.

The Olympus SH–1 also comes with auto settings including seven art filters, interval shooting, photo story and smart panorama. For those who want more control over their pictures, it's also possible to turn on a full manual mode.

Olympus hasn't announced UK details yet. However, it will launch in the US in May for $400 (£240).

Ben Furfie is a former freelance writer for T3.com who produced daily news stories for the site on tech and gadgets. He also live-managed the T3 Award websites during the 2013 and 2014 T3 Awards. Ben later moved into web development and is now a Technical Development Manager leading a team of developers.