Canon White Paper: Built-in Image Stabilization Empowers 4K UHD Portable Lens for Documentary Production

The origination of sharp and stable imagery from a 2/3-inch 4K UHD lens-camera requires the optical image projected by the lens to remain spatially stable on the camera image sensor during exposure of that imager.

Shooting video with a handheld or shoulder-mount lens-camera system can encounter a variety of inadvertent physical perturbations that introduce image unsteadiness. This can appear in the form of a random “jiggling” or vibration of the video image viewed on a monitor resulting from inevitable human tremors when the lens-camera system is handheld. The occurrence of these can increase with protracted shooting – a consequence of normal human fatigue. Such tremors typically manifest themselves as a vibration frequency in the neighborhood of one hertz. They are compounded in amplitude, and extended in frequency, when the camera operator is walking or running while shooting. If the lens-camera is shoulder-mounted, an experienced operator can produce a quite steady image – but, over time, fatigue will invariably introduce a degree of unsteadiness. Tripod-mounted systems generally produce steady imagery – unless the system is mounted on flooring, or a tower, that is subject to vibration, or if the lens-camera system is subject to a blowing wind. Shooting hand-held while riding on a motor cycle pillion, from within an automobile, or from within aircraft or boats – all can introduce variations in vibration amplitudes and frequencies.

The basis of image stabilization is to restore the image – in real-time – to its correct spatial location on the camera image sensor system. Today, one can find three basic approaches to this: mechanical gyro- stabilized housings for the lens-camera system; electronic systems within the camera that moves sensor readout or digital sampling of the video to counter the inadvertent displacement of the optical image on the camera sensor; and optical correction within the lens itself.