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Microsoft Can Undo The Jitters

If you own any modern smartphone, and we’re guessing at least a few of you must, than you’re already familiar with accelerometers, those things in your phone that let it decide which way it’s moving and operate everything from games to the simple act of auto-rotating the screen. Well, the news is that Microsoft is developing an algorithm that reads all the accelerometer and gyroscope data from when a picture was taken and uses it to know exactly how you were moving, and can use that to fairly accurately cancel out blur. For real.

Obviously the initial implication is maybe we ca finally get better images from our cameraphones (where installing optical lens or sensor shift stabilization is difficult, to say the least), but there’s no reason so far this technology couldn’t come to affect cameras of every variety, so long as there’s room for a few accelerometers.

They’ve got a few demos of this, including the image of the cans of Coke there (click it to see the full size which cycles between before and after. And, that’s the worst demo they have. That’s as bad as it gets, and boy it gets a lot better), so, why not hop over to Engadget’s write-up on it to see more?



2009 Holiday Shopping Guide: Image Stabilization


2009-holiday-shopping

Well everyone, it’s that time of the year again. Christmas (and other winter holiday) shopping. And, like last year, we’re back to help. Not necessarily by just pushing the products we want you to buy (D3s, 7D, *cough cough*), but by giving you useful, more sweeping tips to make you a more savvy shopper, able to sift through the seas of numbers, specs, and options available.

OK, ok, we’ll probably plug a specific product or two as we go along. We sell camera equipment, it’s what we do, you know?

But, let’s start with a simple one: image stabilization.

Image stabilization is known by many names (basically a different one for each manufacturer), but is ultimately down to the same idea. Some of the more common names for this technology include:

  • Image Stabilization (IS)
  • Vibration Compensation (VC)
  • Vibration Reduction (VR)
  • SuperSteady Shot
  • And many more

So, what does it do? Well, when you hold a camera, it’s subject to slight trembles and other shakes from your hands. These are natural, and how bad they are depends on your age, physical condition, grip, stance, camera, and more. But, what is means without fail is that at longer exposures, the natural movements from your hands will move the camera a little, and make pictures look less sharp.

There are three ways image stabilization works: electronic, optical, and in-body. Of those, you should only ever choose optical or in-body. Those two help reduce shake using complicated gyroscopes that shift elements to counter for your hand shake. Electronic stabilization, however, works by simply pushing your ISO up, which introduces grain and noise and color shifts, and in general trades one problem for a different one.

Also, because it just counters your movement, image stabilization doesn’t change exposure. In low light, you will still need longer exposures which means moving subjects will still have motion blur. But, if you’re shooting largely stationary subjects, or family portraits around the Christmas tree, image stabilization will help keep your shots crisper. Recommending a camera or lens with image stabilization over one without is easy, we’ll recommend it every time.




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