Researchers at Microsoft have come up with a hardware/software combination which removes blur from photos. Unlike the conventional image stabilization (IS) tech which is inside most digital SLRs today, this new approach doesn’t just reduce blur, but removes it.

It works by using incredibly accurate motion sensors to record the movement of the camera which creates the blur, and then effectively removes that motion with software. In 6 degrees of motion. The result is a crisp photo where any trace of camera jiggle has been removed. Clever stuff.

The whole thing is very experimental, laboratory stuff right now, but it’s clearly (!) an indication that we could be heading towards a potentially blur free photo future. [Via Crave]

 IS methods are similar to our work in that they use inertial sensors to reduce blur, but there are several significant differences. Fundamentally, IS tries to dampen motion by assuming that the past motion predicts the future motion [Canon 1993]; however, it does not counteract the actual camera motion during an exposure nor does it actively remove blur – it only reduces blur. In contrast, our method records the actual camera motion and removes the blur from the image.