OIS vs EIS vs Sensor Shift: Camera Stabilisation Explained

Image stabilistion technology stables your moving videos. For example, imagine you shoot a video of a beautiful mountain trail while driving alongside them, however the video output turns out to be shaky. Your friend takes out his latest smartphone and shoots the same video, but it is smooth and sharp, how? Stabilisation is the reason behind the difference in video output.

The stabilisation technology not only stables the video movement, but also helps in capturing night shots, trail light shots, and high-resolution photography. We talk about them in detail.

Importance of Stabilisation

Stabilisation is one of the most important parts of camera technology; a stable video looks more cinematic and informative than a blurry and shaky video. Although post-processing has the ability to stabilise videos, its effectiveness is limited due to the movement of a camera during shooting, which can occur in X, Y, and Z directions. Postprocessing can adjust the X and Y directions, but it struggles to adjust the Z direction, which is why we rely on appropriate stabilisation technology. Currently, brands employ three types of stabilisation.

Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS)

OIS is a mechanical technique-based stabilisation in imaging devices. It controls the movement and reduces the shakes in the video. Despite the recommendation for a tripod for night photography, most smartphones only require a shutter speed of 3 to 5 seconds to capture night shots, which OIS makes effortless. Video quality also depends on the quality of the OIS; a three-axis OIS stabilises videos much better than a five-axis OIS.

Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS)

Known as Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS), some smartphone and action camera makers use software to balance all three axis (X, Y, and Z). EIS adjusts and analyses each frame to maintain video stability. EIS capability also depends on the processor quality. A decent processor can use EIS with 4K videos, while an average processor supports EIS with 1080p videos only.

EIS is a game-changer for action cameras like Go Pro, DJI. Go Pro comes with hyper-stabilisation; DJI called it Rock Steady, and Insta called it Flowstate. Instagram also have multiple levels of EIS. 

Sensor Shift Stablisation

Senson Shift Stabilisation was first used by Apple in iPhone 13 models, and it is the biggest innovation in camera technology in a decade. This technology has been adopted from DSLRs and it aims to stabilise videos and photos by neglecting hand jitters.

A camera is made up of two segments: the camera lens and the camera sensor. OIS tries to stabilise the camera lens with approximately 1000 adjustments per second, while Sensor-Shift Technology tries to stabilise the footage with approximately 5000 adjustments per second. 

Which Stabilisation Technology is Best?

We can only compare OIS and Sensor-Shift because EIS is a completely different and unique technology. Sensor-Shift can replace OIS, but EIS is not replaceable, especially in action cameras. However, flagship smartphones are merging EIS and OIS to improve video quality.