iPhone 6 vs 5s – Cinematic vs Regular digital video stabilization

The Apple iPhone 6 doesn’t come with the optical image stabilization of the bigger iPhone 6 Plus but improves upon the digital video stabilization of the iPhone 5s with Cinematic Video Stabilization. All fancy words but do they matter?

We’ve prepared a couple of video stabilization tests to show you just how much better the iPhone 6 compared to the iPhone 5s and put Apple’s words to the test.

Apple claims the Cinematic Video stabilization keeps things steady even when you’re not and should look as if shot from a rig and not your shaky hands. Apple has been offering digital video stabilization for quite some time now and we’ve found that to be almost as good as the OIS on the HTC One (M7) so we’re naturally expecting the latest Apple smartphone to be even better.

Looking at the field of view of both phones the iPhone 5s has a wider capture of the scene. The Apple iPhone 6 probably crops away the corners of the video so it has extra data from outside the frame to use in order to subdue shaking and reduce the speed of bumpy movement.

In the end the video clearly shows that the iPhone 6 mops the floor with its predecessor, producing a very stable video that almost looks as if shot from a tripod or dolly – even when walking is involved.

Both phones shooting the videos below were strapped together for this test, so physically they move identically, held in one and the same hand simultaneously.

This may be one of the best digital stabilizations we’ve seen on any smartphone to date, if not the best. Those that worry about the iPhone 6 video capture being worse without the optical image stabilization of the Apple iPhone 6 Plus shouldn’t fret as Apple is using the same digital video stabilization for video capture on both phones. The OIS on the iPhone Plus is there mainly for low light photography it seems. This way the iPhone phablet can capture images at a reduced shutter speed in order to capture more light from the scene.

The video stabilization of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are on par and both much superior to that of the Apple iPhone 5s.