Combating handshake is one of the greatest challenges in low-light photography. With the introduction of Image Stabilization (IS) or similar technologies, things had gotten a bit easier. But not every camera gets the joy of having IS, such as mobile phones and Canon/Nikon DSLR with no IS/VR lenses. That’s where a team of computer scientists from MIT and the University of Toronto comes in.

A new algorithm developed by the team that allows the creation of a sharper picture from just a single source. It does this by “estimating the distribution of a number of probable images”. Whatever that means. But it is supposedly much better than the commonly used Unsharp Mask.

However, the algorithm cannot correct blurs caused by insufficient depth of field or images that are out of focus. Neither can it fix motion blurs caused by fast-moving objects photographed at slow shutter speeds.

The algorithm is expected to be included in future versions of Adobe Photoshop. Even with an IS-capable camera, I’m sure you got some handshake-blurred pictures every now and then that could be salvaged by this new algorithm.

So while we wait for this to happen, be sure to lug around your tripod and cut down on the caffeine.