EIS, or Electronic Image Stabilization, is a technology found in digital and smartphone cameras that can reduce blur in photos or videos caused by hand movements.
Although this technology also works to provide stability like optical image stabilization, it is completely different from OIS.
Optical image stabilization works mainly for photos and videos, EIS is only for video stabilization.
If you want to feel the power of electronic image stabilization, then try recording without EIS mode, then the video you are recording will be unwatchable and your photos will be very shaky.
So, if you want to get butter smooth cinematic videos, then you need to know about electronic image stabilization.
In today’s article we will talk about what is EIS, how does it work and its advantages and disadvantages?
What is electronic image stabilization?
Electronic Image Stabilization means Electronic Image Stabilization in Hindi.
Its meaning is hidden in the word EIS itself, which ensures the stability of images through an electronic medium and allows them to be viewed.
This technology has been used for a long time in digital cameras, thanks to which the video was stabilized, but today this technology can be found in almost every mid-range phone.
OIS is also a stabilization technology, which is more effective, but it is only available in high-end smartphones.
EIS is a software-related technology, which is completely different from OIS, where everything is done by hardware.
In the process, if the hand moves while shooting a video, the accelerometer sensor built into the smartphone is activated and it captures even the smallest movements, such as shaking or bending.
After that, with the help of software and AI, these movements are reduced and smooth and stable images are created.
Let’s understand how this work is done inside the smartphone.
How does electronic image stabilization work?
Let’s say you want to videotape children playing in the park.
Now, if you don’t have EIS on your phone, your video will be so choppy that it’s unwatchable.
But as soon as you turn on EIS, it detects the movement of your hands and moves the image in the opposite direction to reduce or eliminate the effect of shaking, giving you great and smooth images.
Electronic image stabilization works in the following ways:
1. Motion detection
The first task of electronic image stabilization in any smartphone is to detect any type of motion.
The phone has a sensor called an accelerometer, and its job is to detect even the smallest movements.
You should understand that every time you switch your phone from portrait mode to landscape mode, your screen will also flip because in this case, the accelerometer hand movement will cause the phone to flip and then the screen will also flip.
When you record a video, your hand moves a bit, and there is also a wind effect that causes the video to shake.
So the accelerometer catches all these small movements first.
2. Correct image cropping and placement
After any movements are detected on the smartphone, the EIS software works against those movements and crops the image and places it correctly.
To do this, the image is scaled down to a size larger than the sensor, and then its corners are cropped for stability.
Think of it this way, if there is any movement in the phone’s camera, first this direction is detected, after which the EIS software adjusts the image in the opposite direction, so that the effect of movement disappears in the video.
It should be noted that electronic image stabilization involves any image repositioning, scaling or cropping, and therefore the quality of the final image is slightly reduced.
3. Digital image stabilization
After the EIS software finishes cropping and smoothing the image, the final digital image stabilization begins.
In this, using EIS software and AI, the image is digitally adjusted and residual effects are also removed.
To do this, it uses a very advanced algorithm that analyzes the image and then determines where motion blur is most likely to occur in a given scene.
Once motion blur is detected, the software digitally stabilizes it to ensure a stable image.
For example, if you’re shooting a video in low light, the shutter speed will obviously drop to allow more light to hit the camera’s sensor.
Due to the slow shutter speed, there is a possibility of motion blur in the video, and knowing this in advance, the algorithm of the EIS software will provide a good video.
4. Real-time tuning
Real-time adjustment means that EIS software constantly detects camera movement and adjusts to that movement in real-time using software so that your video remains consistently stable.
To learn about real-time adjustments, shoot a video without EIS and you’ll notice that the camera keeps moving up and down in your video due to movement, which distorts the video.
Now you get a smooth image with real-time adjustments when you turn on EIS.
I have tried to explain this process in very simple language and I hope you can understand it.
So, go to your camera phone settings and make sure your phone has this feature or not, as this is the best setting that will improve your video quality.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of EIS?
Whatever the technology, it has advantages and disadvantages.
You need to know about both of these, only then you can make the best decision.
Advantages of electronic image stabilization
Let us know what the Electronic Image Stabilization features are like:-
1. Excellent video quality
Shaky video doesn’t look good at all, and with EIS you can shoot great and professional looking video.
The best part is that you don’t need an expensive camera or gimbal to take smooth pictures, as it can now be done with a mid-range smartphone.
2. Low price
In the previous article, I mentioned that OIS technology uses separate hardware, which increases the cost, and therefore this technology is only available in expensive smartphones.
But in electronic image stabilization, any image is stabilized only by software, and therefore its cost is much lower.
3. Easy to use
In general, EIS is enabled by default on all smartphones, but some phones also offer a manual setting where you can enable it with just one tap.
As you can see in this photo, I can turn this feature on or off with a single button.
You don’t need much technical knowledge of photography for this and it is therefore very easy to use.
Disadvantages of electronic image stabilization
Although any technology has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages, which we will now learn about:
1. Limited effect
Electronic image stabilization ensures the stability of any video, but its effect is also limited, because if there is a lot of movement, for example, taking a video while working, its effect is not so great.
This does not mean that using electronic image stabilization is equivalent to a gimbal, as it still lags behind a combination of gimbal or optical image stabilization.
Many high-end smartphones use a combination of optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization, which proves to be more effective in stabilizing any image.
2. The viewing area of ​​the video has been reduced
You probably realize that if you only use electronic image stabilization in your video, your field of view, that is, the scene visible on the camera screen, will be limited.
For example, if you are shooting video with a field of view equivalent to a focal length of 18mm without EIS enabled, your field of view may be reduced to a focal length of 24mm after enabling EIS.
Now this happens because electronic image stabilization software cuts the corners of the image to accommodate movement, reducing the final field of view.
The thing to note here is that if your phone has optical image stabilization, then the field of view remains the same because all the stabilization is done by hardware.
3. Decreased video quality
Image quality and resolution are slightly reduced due to excessive cropping with electronic image stabilization.
If you’re recording video during the day, it won’t have a noticeable effect, but if you’re using EIS at night, it can degrade video quality even more.
In low-light conditions, electronic image stabilization, which adjusts the shutter speed, can make video images too soft or noisy to view.
Many times the EIS technology locks the main subject while recording the video, after which the software processing starts, so many times the final video comes with poor quality, which is also called video distortion.
Long last…
If you’re into photography and videography, electronic image stabilization is an easy way to get great steady shots for less money.
In this article, you learned what electronic image stabilization technology is, how it works, and its advantages and disadvantages.
There was a time when this technology was not available in all smartphones, but with the change of time, it is now available in all mid-range smartphones.
However, along with many advantages, EIS also has some disadvantages, but these disadvantages may be overcome in the future as the technology becomes more advanced.
Please comment and tell me how you felt after seeing this and what else you would like to know about photography.
Please share this article as much as possible so that everyone can benefit from this useful information.