Image Stabilization in Video Cameras: How Well Does It Work?
Today’s video camcorders have bells and whistles that make video junkies like me drool. Seriously.
With technological advancements that make top-quality virtually guaranteed, today’s video camcorders are tiny marvels that get good video even in difficult situations.
One of the biggest video mistakes is CAMERA SHAKINESS. Earthquake video, I call it.
The best way to stabilize earthquake video, of course, is to use a tripod. Since that’s not always possible or practical, they invented image stabilization. It can be a great feature, but not necessarily. Sometimes it simply does not work very well. Other times it does, but still not like a tripod IMHO.
Image Stabilization (IS) – Image Stabilization is a technology that’s now ubiquitous with camcorders because it helps the average Joe get a better shot. The name is self-evident. A stable image is a good image. (Sony camcorders call their image stabilization SteadyShot).
Image stabilization reduces the blurry video that you frequently get in low light, when using a zoom lens, or while bouncing along the beach in a dune buggy.
This feature tries to compensate for any movement of the camera to give you sharper images. It’s a very valuable and useful option but in cheap model video cameras it often doesn’t work too well.
As with all things photographic, optical stabilization is considerably better than digital stabilization. Of course it is more expensive too.
This is one feature that changes considerable as you go up in price. The digital image stabilization feature on a cheap camcorder can be next to worthless, but that $100,000 HD camera can get a steady shot out of a chopper in a rainstorm.
Pick whatever your budget allows, but always remember that you can get good, steady video without any image stabilization at all by using a tripod. 🙂
Many video editing packages have image stabilization too. Although these can work remarkably well, be advised that it can take forever to render your new stable shot.
Generally speaking, it is best to avoid getting shaky video in the first place. The technological fixes often have issues, it is not a magic cure for bad videography. Sorry!
I hope this information helps you make awesome videos!
Lorraine Grula
