There’s a lot of talk within the Fujifilm community about in-body image stabilization (IBIS). Some believe that it is an essential feature that every new camera must have, and others don’t really care if their model has it or not. My position is that for most photographers and most situations, it’s far from a requirement, but it is nice to have from time-to-time. Notice that I said photographers; if you are a videographer, IBIS is much more important.

For still photography, IBIS makes no difference unless you are using a slow shutter speed or a long telephoto lens, and you don’t have a tripod. If you carry around a tripod, IBIS isn’t necessary, but carrying around a tripod isn’t fun, so if that can be avoided I will avoid it. The rule of thumb to avoid blur from camera shake (not movement within the image itself) when hand-holding, your shutter speed should be at least the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens. For example, use 1/30 for a 30mm lens and 1/200 for a 200mm lens. That’s the minimum shutter speed generally speaking—depending on how well you can hold still, you might be able to go slower or you may need to be faster.

The two photos above are great examples of when IBIS comes in handy. Both break the rule of thumb for reciprocal focal-length shutter speed by a significant margin. For myself, it’s pretty rare that I’m using a 1/6 shutter speed, or using a 600mm lens. I’m sure that for some photographers, those are both common situations; however, I would wager that it’s fairly rare for the majority of shooters. If you are not using slow shutter speeds or long telephoto lenses, you probably don’t need IBIS.

I have a number of cameras with IBIS, including my X-T5 and X-E5 that captured the above pictures. But for most of my nearly 30 years of photography, I did not have a model with IBIS. For those without it, are they tough out of luck? Is IBIS essential? Does every single camera released today need to include it?

Above left: Fujifilm X-T30 at 0.4 second exposure with tripod; Above right: Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm @400mm handheld.

Of course, the solution that we used “back in the day” (which was not long ago) was a tripod. If you have a tripod, you can use whatever shutter speed you want. Even a monopod helps in marginal situations. But obviously tripods are a pain to lug around, so if you can avoid it, that’s positive. For telephoto lenses, you can use a faster shutter speed, but that might require a higher ISO, which is less than ideal. The two photos above, which were made using an X-T30 (a camera without IBIS), are examples of achieving desired results with a non-IBIS camera—for the left image, I used a tripod; for the right picture, I used a faster shutter speed.

It’s not the end of the world if you don’t have IBIS. In fact, you are in the same situation that the vast majority of photographers have found themselves in throughout the last 200 years. You are in a very, very large crowd. But IBIS can be nice to have sometimes. For some people, it can be an especially useful feature.

The main argument for why every new camera must include IBIS is that the tool exists, so why not include it? There is no harm in having it, and it will certainly be helpful to some. Of course, this ignores that IBIS makes the camera more expensive, most likely larger and heavier (at least a little, maybe a lot), and drains the battery quicker. In the last few years there have been significant strides in minimizing the negative side effects, but it’s unfair if we ignore those aspects altogether. For example, Fujifilm stated that to include IBIS in the GFX100RF, the camera would need to be nearly double the size. I was able to get a sharp handheld image at 1/8 shutter speed (see the image above), so IBIS would only have a minor benefit, yet its inclusion would make me not want the camera due to the dramatic increase in bulk. Perhaps if they are able to engineer it so that the camera stays nearly the same dimensions (like they did with the X100VI), then it would be more practical to include.

In other words, there are tradeoffs. Some people might prefer IBIS at all costs. Some people might prefer smallest/lightest/cheapest at all costs. And most are somewhere in the middle, perhaps leaning one way or another, but overall desiring a good balance of the pros and cons. And that’s where I am. It’s nice to have IBIS sometimes, but it’s far from the end of the world if a camera doesn’t have it. Now, if I were a videographer or I frequently used long telephoto lenses or hiked to waterfalls often, I would likely feel different.

The last argument that I want to tackle for the essentialness of IBIS is that higher-resolution cameras will more easily show camera shake—more megapixels means more need for stabilization. There is some logic to this. It actually has more to do with pixel density than resolution. When more densely packed, a given amount of camera movement shifts the image across more pixels, making small motion blur more noticeable when viewed at 400%. For example, people will say that the 100mp GFX sensor needs IBIS because it has 100mp; however, the pixel density is the same as the 26mp APS-C X-Trans IV sensor. If IBIS isn’t necessary on X-Trans IV cameras like the X-T3, X-E4, and X100V, it’s hard to make the argument that it is a requirement for 100mp GFX models, but you see people make this argument all the time, stating it as if it’s a known fact. An argument that it is necessary on the 40mp X-Trans V sensor (due to the higher pixel density) is a stronger case, especially when you consider that every one of those cameras has IBIS; however, the counter-argument is that while it might very marginally show motion blur more easily, it is buried under more resolution, so when viewed at the same size as an identical image from a lower pixel density sensor, you wouldn’t notice.

For some people, IBIS really is necessary, and thankfully you’ve got lots of options. 10 years ago Fujifilm didn’t offer any IBIS models. The first X-series camera with IBIS was the X-H1, released in 2018. Even in 2020, the X-T4 was your only option (aside from the X-H1, which was already discontinued). Now you have the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X100VI, X-T50, and X-E5, plus some GFX models. Fujifilm has come a long ways with this, and I’m sure they will continue to make strides. But if you don’t have a model with IBIS, don’t fret. There are a lot of strategies that allow you to get the shots you want without it, which have been used for decades, if not centuries. IBIS is an excellent tool that is extremely helpful (and essential) to some, maybe not helpful at all to a few, and nice to have occasionally but not really essential for most. My guess, though, is that a time will come when every camera includes it, especially as pixel density continues to increase as camera makers chase resolution. A someday 60mp X-series model will certainly need it, and maybe an 180mp GFX camera.