After developing a camera chip dedicated entirely to AI processing, Sony wants to give the same treatment to electronic stabilization. The camera maker and sensor manufacturing giant is showing off a new chip that processes electronic image stabilization as the data hits the sensor, negating some of the biggest limitations to using electronic stabilization.
Sensor shift and optical stabilization are typically the preferred types of stabilization due to electronic stabilization’s cropping, limited use on RAW footage, and jello effect. Sony’s new approach to electronic stabilization still crops the footage – but it works to fight the jello effect and can be applied to RAW footage.
The Sony Stabilizer Large-Scale Integration CXD5254GG is a chip that’s dedicated entirely to electronic image stabilization. The chip mixes RAW data from the sensor along with the camera’s acceleration and gyroscope data to stabilize the footage in real time.
By giving stabilization its own separate chip, Sony says the system is better able to suppress the “jello effect,” or wobbling in footage. This jello effect is most common when using electronic stabilization with high-frequency vibrations, which is a common issue when mounting a camera on vehicles, motorcycles, and drones, thanks to the vibration of the engine.
Along with suppressing the jello effect, the stabilization chip also corrects for blur and works to keep the horizon in place. It could also help create more natural panning motion and fewer motion artifacts. The chip processes data fast enough to work in real-time, Sony says, and applies the stabilization to RAW footage, rather than leaving video editors to apply the changes in post-processing.
Sony is also pairing the chip with an intelligent Picture Controller (iPC) that improves contrast, including improving visibility in poor weather conditions like fog, snow, or backlit scenes. Moving the electronic stabilization to a separate chip could potentially also free up power for the main processor to focus on tasks like autofocus.
Of course, the development of the EIS chip begs another question: Why bother focusing on electronic stabilization when uncropped sensor stabilization is still superior? The use cases that Sony presents with the chip largely hint towards tiny cameras, including onboard cameras for motorsports, security cameras, and cameras for robotics.
Another interesting use case? Drones. A gimbal prevents the vibration from a drone’s motors and rotors from showing on the footage, but Sony indicates that if drones didn’t need these gimbals, they could be smaller and lighter, which would translate to longer flight times.
For now, Sony isn’t using the chip in its own cameras, but is selling the chip like it does with image sensors to other companies. Sony is offering the stabilizer on its own, or in a broadcasting and video production module with a camera.
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