which is better in a digital camera optical stablization or digital?

Answer 1

You know, "digital image stabilization" is a new on on me as far as still cameras are concerned. Optical image stabilization has been around for a while now and we know how and how well it works.

I'd be "suspicious" of the quality of anything manipulated or created digitally to mimic a physical property, but that's just me.

When I looked up digital image stabilization, I found several places saying more or less the same thing. "The above "optical" image stabilization is different from the "digital" image stabilization found in some digital video cameras. "Digital" image stabilization only makes sense for digital video as it pixel shifts the image frames to create a more stable video image." ( from http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=image+stabilization )

I see a description on the Olympus site where they say that the camera chooses a higher ISO and faster shutter speed than the usual program "to enable you to beautifully and clearly capture images free from the blur sometimes caused by camera shake or moving subjects."

My Canon SD900 (and many others) has an ISO selection called "HI ISO" which does the same thing, but they don't have the nerve to call it "digital image stabilization." Maybe that's because they actually offer the real deal with optical image stabilization.

Some cameras offer "sensor shake" stabilization and this works, too. It's not a marketting trick like making up a new name for using a higher shutter speed.

Thanks for asking this question, because I learned something.

Answer 2

optical is better
digital just raises the iso to stop blur
that inturn raises the noise in the picture