Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) is a feature that you find on the cameras of many high-end smartphones, and we will explain the question of What is OIS? Image stabilization is a popular topic on forums and in comments to absolutely any modern device with cameras.
Optical and Digital Image Stabilization are fighting together for a long time in digital cameras, but what is the best method of reducing shaking in smartphones? We will explain all of these messes quickly.
What is OIS?
Many high-end smartphones have optical image stabilization but the question is What is OIS? How does it Work? Why do we need it? When you take a photograph you maybe sort of line up the shot with your subject and you maybe will play with some of the controls such as focusing and then at some point, you will hit the button to take the photo.
Now, when you hit the button to take the photo, what happens is a shutter opens particularly in traditional cameras and light will come in, and it will hit the sensor in the old days when you hit a film and the exposure would occur during that moment.
If you move the camera even because your hands are slightly shaking because you cannot keep your hand still all the time even if you move the camera a little bit, you get blurriness, and it is of course the enemy of a good photo.
How does it Work?
Therefore, there is a system called Optical Image Stabilization, and what does is this is whenever you move in one direction, a little mechanism works inside to bring the lens in the other direction, therefore, compensating for the movement. This normally happens on two axes.
In fact what happens is there are cups of gyroscopes that actually measure the velocity and the angle of which way the phone is moving and as you take the picture, the little microcontroller that moves are floating lens with some motors attached to it in the other direction to compensate for that movement.
Obviously, it cannot compensate for huge movement because you only got a little lens or a little bit of movement, however, it can compensate for camera shake. It is also worth mentioning at this point that OIS cannot stop the blurriness in a moving target for trying to photograph a pet or a child or a moving car that is going past you in speed.
If you are not paling correctly with it, then OIS cannot compensate for the blurriness that will come from a moving object. It can only compensate for what happens in your hand where you are taking the photo.
Of course in good light situations with a traditional camera and with a smartphone camera, what happens is that shutter speed, and that shutter speed is very quick, the time it takes to open and close that shutter to take the picture to make the exposure is very quick and therefore the amount of time which you can move is also very small.
However, in lower light situations maybe you are out for the evening and you are trying to take some photographs, then because it is lower light, you actually find the exposure time is longer, and the longer it is therefore your hand can move.
Another type of image stabilization is called digital image stabilization (EIS) and it is often used when you are recording video sometimes it is called a video distort image stabilization, and you will find that one certain smartphone, for example, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, when you start videoing what happens is another computer onboard shifts the picture around digitally inside of its memory to compensate for the movements that are happening with the hand as a result, you get a much more steady picture.
We also have another recommendation of smartphone which has OIS, the Redmi K50 Pro is perfect if you are looking for OIS smartphones. If you want to learn more detail, read our review: Redmi K50 Pro.
Why do we need OIS?
If you are not a professional photographer or want to be, it is very difficult for us to take a steady photo without any blurriness, and OIS is here to help us. Thanks to this technology, you can take better photos.
