Stabilisation

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How stabilisation works

Every handheld shot shakes. Stabilisers fight that movement in different places: in the lens or sensor, in a motorised gimbal, or afterwards in software. Each removes a different kind of shake and costs something different.

• In-body and lens stabilisation

  Gyros measure the shake and a floating sensor or lens group moves to cancel it. It's great with small, fast jitters and costs no crop, but it can't stop larger, slower movements like footsteps.

• Gimbals

  Motors hold the whole camera level and smooth out its rotation. Gimbals are excellent for walking shots, but the operator still bobs up and down, so a slow vertical float remains unless they walk carefully.

• Post stabilisation

  Software tracks the picture and shifts each frame to cancel the motion, then crops in so the moving edges don't show. It can make footage almost perfectly still, at the cost of resolution and field of view.

• The blur problem

  Shake during the exposure leaves motion blur in the frame. Post stabilisation removes the movement between frames, so a steady frame that's still blurred and then sharp flickers in a way that looks unnatural. A faster shutter or in-camera stabilisation avoids it.

• Rolling shutter wobble

  On rolling-shutter cameras, fast shake bends each frame slightly. Software can steady the frame but rarely fixes the bending, which shows as a jelly-like wobble.

• Combining methods

  Most professional handheld work layers them: in-body stabilisation for jitter, a gimbal or rig for larger movement, and a light touch of post stabilisation to finish.