Fix Handheld Camera Shake
Walk-and-shoot footage keeps micro-swaying. Light shake can be fixed in post; heavy shaking cannot — knowing which one you have saves an hour.
Classify the shake first
Mild drift (hand tremor, breathing): the main case, clearly improved. Violent motion (running, whip pans): compensation drags and tears edges — skip it. Rhythmic bounce (walking cadence): partially reduced, best fixed at capture time.
The cost of stabilization
Compensation shifts the frame in the opposite direction of detected motion, which crops in slightly — higher strength means more crop and softer edges. Start low, escalate only if needed, and remember the whole file is re-encoded.
Shoot steadier in the first place
Elbows tucked and braced; small steps with bent knees; prefer wide angle — longer focal lengths magnify the same hand movement. Device-side stabilization (OIS/EIS) always beats post-processing.