When it comes to stabilization techniques in cameras, we are looking at either electronic or optical, with the former being more of a software technique, while the latter uses hardware to try and stabilize photos and videos. With the new Pixel 2 handsets from Google, the company has opted to use both technologies.
For those who are curious about the company’s decision for the feature dubbed “Fused Video Stabilization”, Google has since penned a blog post on its Research Blog detailing the technique. In their blog post, Google points out the various issues that can affect a photo or video without image stabilization.
They also point out that various pros and cons of using either OIS or EIS, and ultimately claim that with their Fused Video Stabilization technique, they are basically combining the best of both worlds. “The first processing stage, motion analysis, extracts the gyroscope signal, the OIS motion, and other properties to estimate the camera motion precisely. Then, the motion filtering stage combines machine learning and signal processing to predict a person’s intention in moving the camera. Finally, in the frame synthesis stage, we model and remove the rolling shutter and focus breathing distortion.”
It is an interesting technique and one that Google has pulled off pretty well, especially when you consider that DxOMark has proclaimed that the Pixel 2 has the best smartphone camera (at least for now). In the meantime if you want a more visual representation of what this means, you can check out the video above.