New Rumor: Canon DSLR's to have IBIS soon

A new rumor from Canon Rumors suggests that Canon will announce DSLR's with IBIS (in body image stablization) soon.  The rumor suggests that new cameras such as the 90D and the 1DX Mark III may have this new technology. 

There have been rumors that the new Nikon D6 will have IBIS, so perhaps that's where this rumor is coming from.

I don't know about this. I guess it comes down to  - what a DSLR? So let's first assume it's with a mirror box and an OVF.

While IBIS makes 100% sense on mirrorless because autofocus and exposure metering all comes from the sensor, thus stabilizing the image sensor stabilizes everything.  However, with a DSLR with an OVF, the autofocus comes off a secondary sensor, as does metering.  What you end up with is things being "out of sync" with simply the image sensor stabilized and not the viewfinder, AF or AE sensors.  Consider using a long lens, and focusing on a particular point on an object.  The sensor, however, is shifting position to counter your movement, and the position where the sensor is, may or may not be what you see in the viewfinder.   Also, your viewfinder image isn't stabilized - which was always one of the main benefits of IS.

You may then think - ah, but CanonNews - IBIS and IS will work together, so both the sensor and the viewfinder and AF will be stabilized! Yes, with RF lenses this is certainly the case.  The RF protocol is significantly faster than the EF protocol.  The EF protocol compared to the RF protocol is like comparing dialup internet to broadband.  As we have seen in quite a few patent applications, Canon's implementation of IBIS + IS seems to carry a lot of communication between the camera and the lens that simply may not be possible with the EF mount.  So it's maybe technically infeasible that Canon will be able to make IBIS + IS come to an EF mount.

However, there's another way this may work.  What if Canon removes the OVF and mirrorbox? 

I personally feel that sooner or later this will come to the EF mount. Could that be what we are seeing here? There has been more talk about IBIS and patents with respects to Canon DSLR's, such as this patent application.  However, care should be noted that the actual patent is about something else and not about putting an actual IBIS unit into a DSLR.  As a matter of fact, if we look at other IBIS patent applications, they basically had an EVF based EF mount camera in them.  This is certainly a possibility if Canon feels that DPAF is mature enough to scrap the entire OVF and mirrorbox assembly and just make a "mirrorless EF camera". It's cheaper, fewer parts to maintain, easier to warranty, and a lighter camera.  That makes far more sense than shoving IBIS into a DSLR with an OVF to me.  It won't be a good as the RF mount, but it will be better than no IBIS.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I would take this with a huge grain of salt.

Canon Patent Application: Diffractive Optics Elements Canon announcements coming at the end of August