- Capture photos in low lighting, a scenario that is usually susceptible to distortion because of the slow shutter speed and wide aperture requirements
- Record video without needing an external gyroscope to stabilize the camera while the videographer is moving
OIS vs. EIS
One alternative to OIS is electronic image stabilization (EIS), which attempts to accomplish the same movement compensation without specialized hardware. Instead, EIS is accomplished using electronic image processing functions and sensors. EIS is more common in videography than photography because the primary benefit it offers is a smoother video output. Whereas an OIS mechanism can slow down the camera’s ability to capture each frame, EIS uses cropping around a designated focal point to stabilize the video. This also means that EIS typically reduces the video resolution, but the difference in video quality is mostly indistinguishable in smaller cameras.
Examples of OIS
OIS technology has been instituted by a range of camera manufacturers, and each has a unique name for their respective hardware component. Some examples of these names include:
- Sony SteadyShot
- Nikon Vibration Reduction (VR)
- Pentax Shake Reduction
- Canon Image Stabilizer
- Olympus In Body Image Stabilization (IBIS)
