Image stabilization relative to post production...

Michael Cardenas · Feb 16, 2019

If you are a beginning photographer your camera does not have an image stabilization feature is blur something that can be taken care of post-production... I'm choosing a camera and my fear is that without image stabilization I do not have the steady hands to capture a sharp image on a consistent basis... Your thoughts please

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480sparky · Feb 16, 2019

99.999999% of the time, you're SOL.

Michael Cardenas · Feb 16, 2019

Hmmm. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you saying that if I take a blurry picture I won't be able to "sharpen it up" using an editing software?

D7K · Feb 16, 2019

In short, No. Blurry shots can't be corrected in post, that's not to say you NEED in body IS, you have VR lenses, shoot at the right shutter speed to avoid camera shake (Change ISO / Aperture to compensate), use a tripod or monopod, a tree to lean against... There are many ways around it if you have shaky hands ..

480sparky · Feb 16, 2019

Michael Cardenas said:
Hmmm. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you saying that if I take a blurry picture I won't be able to "sharpen it up" using an editing software?

"Sharpening" is applied along all axes. Camera blur only happens on one axis.

Derrel · Feb 16, 2019

Getting a tripod is possibly the soundest course of action.

480sparky · Feb 16, 2019

Or, at least, a monopod.

dxqcanada · Feb 16, 2019

Reduce image blurring in Adobe Photoshop caused by camera shake

dunfly · Feb 16, 2019

If you are choosing a camera, get a system with image stabilization. It is hard to find a decent system that does not have it. You can work around not having it but why would you choose not to have it.

480sparky · Feb 16, 2019

dxqcanada said:
Reduce image blurring in Adobe Photoshop caused by camera shake

Even in those teeny examples posted, you can readily see a ghost of the blurred image.

ac12 · Feb 16, 2019

dunfly said:
If you are choosing a camera, get a system with image stabilization. It is hard to find a decent system that does not have it. You can work around not having it but why would you choose not to have it.

My beef is that most of the 2-lens kits that I've seen, have a non-stabilized long zoom.

Of the 2 lenses, the long zoom is the one that needs stabilization the most.

K9Kirk · Feb 17, 2019

Edit: Assuming you do know how to hold a camera but still shake >>> Pentax K-70 if you're on a budget. There are many others to choose from, just throwing that out there. If you still get some blur then maybe it won't be so much blur that Adobe Photoshop can't eliminate the remainder 100%. Just my newbian 2 cents worth. Seems like the logical thing to do if you ask me.

TCampbell · Feb 17, 2019

A couple of comments...

The ability to hold a camera steady is a "learned" thing. There are videos that demonstrate good camera holding technique, but the basics should make sense if you thinking about it.

Part of being steady is knowing how to stand such that your own body is steady. Take a wide "baseball" stance ... and do not lean forward (or sideways or any other direction). This puts your center of mass directly over your feet. If you lean, your center of mass is off to one side and now your muscles have to fight to keep you upright. That not only leads to fatigue ... you will have more shake.

Also think about how your camera is held. If your arms & elbows are out to your side (think "chicken wings") then think about this as an engineering structure ... gravity wants to pull the camera "down" but the support is going ... "sideways"? If you want a stronger structure, support the camera from underneath with your elbows tucked in to your stomach. Now you have a very strong brace to support the camera. The controls are typically operating with your right had, so use your left-hand to support the weight of the camera on your palm (and your elbow is braced on your stomach).

Use the viewfinder ... not the live view screen. When you use the viewfinder, the camera is resting against your face and that's another point of stabilization.

If there's something around that you can use as extra bracing ... use it. When you see a photographer leaning on a wall or a support column while shooting ... they're not being lazy, they're using a solid object to brace themselves to reduce any chance of camera movement.

Doing this will help quite a bit in terms of how low you can take the shutter speed and still get a solid shot.

Also keep in mind that the minimum shutter speed you can get away with changes based on the focal length of the lens. Ultra-wide lenses (e.g. think 10mm focal length) are extremely forgiving and don't require much in the way of stabilization. Ultra-long lenses (e.g. think 600mm focal length) are extremely UN-forgiving.

Lastly ... I'm hard pressed to think of a popular camera brand that doesn't incorporate image stabilization into their cameras in one way or another. Some cameras have "in body image stabilization" (aka "IBIS"). Other use "in lens" image stabilization ... with the idea being that the stabilization is better tuned to the nuances of that specific lens.

If you're thinking of any popular brand ... Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc. then you probably don't have to fear the lack of image stabilization.

If it's a Nikon camera, check to see if the lens has the letters "VR" in the name. (vibration reduction)
If it's a Canon camera, check to see if the lens has the letters "IS" in the name. (image stabilization)
If it's a Sigma lens, check to see if the lens has the letters "OS" in the name. (optical stabilization)
etc.

Pretty much everybody has something ... they change up what they call it.

ac12 · Feb 17, 2019

Michael Cardenas said:
If you are a beginning photographer your camera does not have an image stabilization feature is blur something that can be taken care of post-production... I'm choosing a camera and my fear is that without image stabilization I do not have the steady hands to capture a sharp image on a consistent basis... Your thoughts please.

As Tim said, learning to hold and shoot a camera steady is a learned technique.
Holding a cell phone camera out at arms length is probably the worst for a steady image.
Your hands do not have to be steady, if your body and arms are. It is all technique.

Stabilization is not a "magic bullet."
It will compensate to some degree for YOUR camera movement, but it will NOT compensate for subject movement.

So if you shoot a house at low shutter speed, the IS will help stabilize the camera, and you will get a sharp pic of the house.
But if a dog runs in front of the house, the IS will do nothing for the dog, and the dog will be blurred.

For stabilization, you have 2 options:
1 - Get a camera with "In Body Image Stabilization" (IBIS). This will be in mirrorless or P&S cameras. But not all will have IBIS.
2 - Get a camera that uses stabilized lenses, and GET stabilized lenses.

In many of the 2-lens kit that I see, the long lens does not have stabilization. IMHO, that is a poor buy, because it is the long lens that NEEDS to be stabilized more than the short lens.