Stabilize the camera before analytics and operators inherit the shake

Source facts: zoom magnifies movement as well as detail

Axis Communications’ March 2026 white paper, Image stabilization, explains that wind, heavy traffic, trains, machinery, and flexible structures can shake a surveillance camera and produce blurry or unstable video. High poles and long focal lengths are especially demanding because a narrow field of view amplifies small physical movements.

Higher resolution does not correct that motion. It can make vibration more apparent, while powerful zoom enlarges the movement seen by an operator. Shaking also affects more than comfort: it can reduce image usability, force a wider privacy mask, increase compression load, and interfere with systems that interpret apparent movement in the scene.

Axis describes optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS). OIS uses motion sensing and actuators to move an optical element, compensating before light reaches the sensor. It works well with long focal lengths and low light but adds moving parts and cost. Conventional EIS models camera movement and shifts the digital image using spare pixels around the frame. It is economical, but an image-only method may confuse object motion with camera motion.

Source facts: stabilization has boundaries

Gyroscope-assisted EIS adds a physical measurement of camera motion to the correction algorithm. Axis states that this helps distinguish vibration from movement in the scene and covers a range of vibration frequencies and amplitudes. Electronic correction still uses image area as a movement buffer, so the delivered field of view and other processing interactions must be verified.

Rolling-shutter readout can add a warped or wobbling effect when the camera vibrates because different rows are exposed at different moments. Optical stabilization can compensate before that readout. Electronic techniques act from measured or imaged motion and may have different limitations. No stabilization setting makes a weak pole, loose fastener, resonant bracket, or unsuitable foundation acceptable.

DSE recommendation: solve the physical system first

Identify the excitation. Observe the site during wind, truck or train movement, door operation, rooftop equipment cycles, machinery startup, and other likely sources.

Inspect the mounting chain. Check foundation, pole, mast, arm, adapter, fasteners, safety wire, enclosure, and cable strain. Look for looseness, corrosion, excessive cantilever, and resonant movement.

Reduce avoidable movement. Use the manufacturer-approved mount, shorten unnecessary extensions, improve structural stiffness through qualified design, relocate away from vibration where practical, and secure cables so they do not pull the camera.

Define the worst zoom. Test the longest focal length and farthest operational target. A stable wide view does not prove a usable telephoto view.

DSE recommendation: select and test stabilization as a system setting

Choose OIS, EIS, gyroscope-assisted EIS, or a mechanically improved installation according to the remaining movement, required low-light performance, field of view, camera model, and cost. Record whether enabling stabilization crops the image, changes latency, affects exposure, or alters the coordinate relationship used by analytics, overlays, presets, and privacy masks.

Create side-by-side recorded tests with stabilization off and on during the same representative condition. Review normal playback, pause frames, digital zoom, exported video, and operator control. Confirm that a real moving person or vehicle is not mistakenly suppressed or made harder to follow.

Exercise motion detection, object analytics, autotracking, fixed masks, map overlays, and alarm zones. Measure bitrate and storage before and after: a stable background can compress more efficiently, but the actual gain belongs to the installed scene and encoder configuration.

DSE recommendation: accept performance under load

Document mount and structure, camera and lens, zoom, firmware, stabilization mode, wind or vibration condition, exposure, target distance, analytic result, bitrate, and reviewer. Retain clips showing the hardest passing condition and any known limitation. If safe natural wind or traffic cannot be scheduled, use a controlled test approved by the equipment and site owners; never strike or forcibly shake an installed camera.

Recheck after storms, impacts, pole work, roof work, camera replacement, mount adjustment, or unexplained increases in false motion and bitrate. The acceptance criterion is not a smooth live view on a calm day. It is usable recorded evidence and reliable automation when the mounting environment is doing what the design said it could do.

Official references

Axis Communications, Image stabilization, March 2026.