Someone try this and tell me if works in giving your that 1 or maybe 2 stops of extra usable shutter speed:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~wiskerke/artikelen/string.html

Watch out for the elastic spring snapping up and whacking your face if you don't step on it securely!

Wow that is interesting and very innovative, but I will be more worried about my camera whacking the ground if I loose my grip!

I guess you're right. If one eye is blinded by the elastic whip, at least you have the other left to take photos, but you may only have one camera body at the time...

Anyhow, read also that a long-enough camera neck strap (non elastic) when stretched tout between both arms and neck (don't ask me how... have yet to try successfully) also gives some stabilisation benefit. Supposedly same method as used in the army to stabilise a rifle by using its strap.

for lumix with OIS, i can get a sharp pic at 1sec shutter speed using either the timer or burst mode, for camera without OIS at 1/4sec using the burst mode.

even with OIS its very hard to get a sharp pic with normal method of snapping a single pic at 1/4s, easy if >1/10s. so there is no need for this kind of tool.

This method is not new, I've seen it in magazines many years ago, however I've never tried it.

This is a very good technique to offset the vibration from the shutter button press.
I prefer burst mode not only because of that, but rather because I noticed that IS needs time to 'lock-on' to the vibrations. So sometimes the first photo in a burst will be blur but subsequent ones will be sharp.

I can see how this technique when applied correctly reduces shake in the vertical axis. However, it is limited to that axis only - there are 5 other degrees of freedom to consider.

As to how much reduction in overall shake one can expect, I guess that depends on the mechanics of the human body in the shooting position its shaking characteristics. I suppose though that fixing just this one axis can make a large impact on post-processing, as there is one less unknown to consider.

It seem very creative, but im very worry that i might drop my camera on the floor, i woudn't want to risk it. Has anyone here tried it yet?