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Which mode?
Some cameras and lenses offer different IS modes. With Canon lenses,
for example, Mode 1 enables the full range of compensation movement
whereas Mode 2 is designed for use when panning to follow a moving
subject. It switches off the IS correction for the panning direction and
only corrects movement that is perpendicular to the panning. It’s also
often possible to specify whether the stabilisation system is active all the
time or just at the moment that the shutter release is pressed to
capture an image. Keeping it active means that you see a steadier
image in the viewfinder, but limiting it to activating at the point of
capture increases the degree of correction available during the
exposure, which can mean the image is sharper.
Technique
Motorised gimbals
Gimbals and external
stabilisation systems have been
around for a long time in the
TV and film business but in the
past few years they’ve shrunk
in size and price to the extent
that they are now becoming an
option for enthusiasts.
Although they can be used to
help capture sharp stills, they
are primarily aimed at
videographers.
There are gimbals designed
to suit a wide range of cameras,
from smartphones to DSLRs
and mirrorless cameras. The
DJI Ronin-SC costs around
£325 and is a great choice for
users of mirrorless cameras.
Like lens-based and IBIS
systems, motorised gimbals
have sensors to detect camera
movement and they use motors
to compensate, usually across
three axes. They are extremely
eective, but they add extra
weight and they need careful
setting-up, taking into account
the length and weight of the
lens – if you change focal
length you may need to adjust
the gimbal.Digital stabilisation
Digital image stabilisation is
more commonly used for video
than stills and the best form
works a bit like IBIS but the
sensor doesn’t actually move,
instead pixels around the
frame are used to gather
image data. This means that
cameras using Digital IS
usually crop the image when
the stabilisation is active and it
may not be available at the
highest resolutions. While
digital stabilisation is
regarded as the poor relation to
other stabilisation systems, it
can be very eective. GoPro’s
HyperSmooth 2.0 in the
Hero8 Black, for example, does
an amazing job of making
footage captured from aspeeding mountain bike look
perfectly watchable.Which is best?
A few years ago camera
manufacturers were divided
into two camps, those that
used lens-based stabilisation
and those that used sensor-
shifting IBIS. Today, the lines
are blurring as they are
increasingly moving towards
using both in combination.
This brings the best of both
worlds, with the optical
stabilisation being especially
useful for correcting tilting
movements, especially with
long telephoto lenses, and
sensor-based stabilisation
correcting up-and-down,
side-to-side and rotational
movements.
As a small shift makes a
more significant dierence to a
small sensor than it does with a
larger sensor, smaller format
cameras have a naturaladvantage because in-body
stabilisation tends to be more
eective. Nevertheless, it is still
eective with full-frame
cameras and with care you may
be able to extend the safe
handholdable shutter speed by
4 stops or more.
If you’re looking for the best
stabilisation system, that badge
of honour currently belongs to
Olympus. Its Micro Four
Thirds cameras have the
advantage of having sensors
that are smaller than both
full-frame and APS-C format
chips, giving them greater
scope for camera shake
compensation.How slow can you go?
Camera and lens
manufacturers give their
stabilisation systems a rating
in exposure values (EV) or
stops of shutter speed
compensation that you
can expect to get. TheseUsing a three-second
shutter speed has blurred
the running water, while
the OM-D E-M1 Mark III’s
stabilisation system ensures
that the posts are sharp