Digital Home Thoughts: Image Stabilization and Camera Shake

"One of the major problems with today's consumer video captures is camera shake. Most consumers capture their videos with hand-held cameras. While they don't usually run after their subjects like my children, the smaller size of today's cameras makes it difficult to keep the camera steady while hand-holding it during capture. Because there are so many opportunities to capture video now, you don't have to lug around your camcorder any more. You can take videos using your regular digital camera. And the pictures you can get are quite decent since the common format for DSC videos is now VGA, which offers good enough quality that you can watch your videos on television or on your computer screen with no problem. But camera shake at times can be so bad that you may want to skip the videos and concentrate on still images. Here at Kodak we have been working on motion compensation to take the shake out at capture time."



Clearly the article is biased towards Kodak cameras and its accessories, however, the ideas mentioned in here are quite valid. As most of you already probably know, I have only one camera right now (the EOS 10D). Since Image Stabilization (IS) lenses are expensive, I hadn't bothered investing in one, until recently when I bought my 75-300 IS. I did have the choice of going with the non IS version, and it was about half the price of the IS version, but at high zoom levels, the motion blur can be quite bad. And honestly, it has been one of the best decisions I have made in buying a lens. So, if you are in the market for the camera or lenses, think about the IS versions, even if it gives you a few less features or megapixels; and even if they are going to cost you a little bit. Because, getting those good shake free pictures are totally worth it. And of course, if you have one of the newer Kodak cameras, you are already set.