Photojournalist and filmmaker Ulla Lohmann uses both Movie Digital IS (Electronic IS) and In-camera Image Stabilisation (IBIS) in the Canon EOS R5, and has tested how the system performs on the water in a kayak, in the air with a paraglider, and on land while rock climbing. "It probably doesn't get more extreme than having a stable camera system during rock climbing when you're hanging off a rock," she says.
Canon is a pioneer of image stabilisation (IS) technology, having launched the world's first interchangeable SLR lens with IS in 1995, as well as introducing the first cameras with in-body IS (IBIS) delivering up to 8 stops of image stabilisation – the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6.
Video stabilisation technologies continue to evolve. Many of Canon's Cinema EOS pro video cameras feature 5-axis Electronic IS (EIS), while EOS R System hybrid cameras have Movie Digital IS.
All these stabilisation technologies – optical, IBIS and digital – can work together to bring a greatly improved level of steadiness when you're recording video footage, as the sample footage below (filmed on an EOS R6 Mark II) illustrates. So how does this advanced Canon image stabilisation make filmmakers' jobs easier? And does it really mean you can retire the gimbal?
Here, we explore the freedom that in-camera Electronic IS, IBIS and IS lenses are giving to Canon Ambassadors Francesca Tosarelli and Ulla Lohmann. Working across journalism and documentary filmmaking, Francesca produces features for broadcasters that can then be developed into character-driven, cinéma-vérité-style films, while Ulla is a photojournalist and filmmaker specialising in documentary, expeditions and adventure.
Both have used gimbals to capture smooth footage while on the move, but they routinely rely on the image stabilisation features built into their Canon cameras and lenses.