I discovered the usefulness of this feature when I edited video clips of our epic annual family road trip to Colorado. In between time-lapse videos of the drive, I added highlights of the main stops we made at state and national parks. Most of that video footage came from my smartphone, an LG G5.

As you might expect, the hand-held videos were shaky — even with the phone’s internal stabilization feature. When I got home and started editing the clips, I noticed the stabilization option in Google Photos. I tried it out and was pleasantly surprised by the results.

Related: How to solve impossible problems: Daniel Russell’s awesome Google search techniques

For each video you want to stabilize, you open the Google Photos app on your phone, tap on a video clip, and then tap on the “edit” option that looks like a pencil. You’ll see the “stabilize” feature at the bottom of the screen. Tap that, and you’ll have to wait a few moments, depending on the size of the video, for the app to stabilize your video.

It magically transformed my shaky footage into videos that looked like they were shot with a tripod. The end result was a slightly cropped video that might have a bit of warping in the image, depending on how it was shot. But I didn’t notice much distortion in the footage I shot.

For anyone who spends a lot of time shooting video with their smartphones, such as journalists, this could be a handy tool that irons out annoying shakes and leaves mostly smooth, professional looking footage. Stabilize each clip, add it to your video-editing software, and you’re all set for your next news story or family adventure.

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I know the name is a mouthful. Translated into the way normal people speak, it means this is a versatile lens capable of shooting wide-angle shots; decently zoomed-in shots; shots in dim light with a respectable f/stop of 2.8 at the widest angle; shots with image stabilization; and extreme close-ups.

Those were all the things I was looking for when I first reviewed this budget-friendly lens in 2013, and all these years later it’s still frequently on my Canon DSLR.

There are two versions of the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM. The first was announced in 2006, which is the one I bought and enjoy today. Sigma discontinued it but you can still find it on Amazon. Sigma also released a newer, more compact “contemporary” version. Both lenses only work on crop-sensor cameras, not full frames.

The Sigma is a handy walk-around lens that shoots great photos — we’ll get to that later. But the main reason I bought it was for its versatility shooting DSLR videos.

When you’re filming a news event or your unpredictable kids, you might not have time to switch lenses to get the shot you want. It’s really handy to have a lens on your camera that can handle just about any situation.

This is hardly the only versatile lens on the market. A great option is made by Canon, the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. Awesome, awesome lens. But a little pricey. I was seriously considering buying it when I stumbled across the the more affordable Sigma.

The Sigma offers a slightly longer zoom range than the Canon, plus it offers the ability to take extreme close ups.

Being able to get really close to the subject of a photo or video is sweet. For a recent story about the safety record of the hot-air balloon industry, this was the lens I used when I visited a balloon festival in Helotes and shot clips for a mini-documentary style video. At one point (toward the end of the video) I was in the cramped basket of a balloon, in really close quarters. The macro feature of the Sigma helped me keep everything in focus.

The same features that make the Sigma so great for video also make it a great walk-around lens for photography. Here are some samples (click on the image to look at a larger version on Flickr):

The main downside of the Sigma is that the aperture gets smaller as you zoom in, meaning it collects less light. That’s not a problem with Canon’s EF-S 17-55mm.

Related: How to shoot better video of anything

And the focus ring on the Sigma isn’t as silky smooth as a good Canon lens. The auto focus is a little noisier and you can’t manually focus while in the auto-focus setting. These are problems the Canon lens doesn’t have.

But if you can live with those downsides, the Sigma might serve you well and help you tell your own stories, just like it has for me.

Sometimes I blog about stuff that helps journalists. I pay for all the products I review on my blog. To help defray those costs, I use Google ads and Amazon’s affiliate advertising program, which provides a way for sites to earn commissions by linking to Amazon.com. There’s no extra cost to you, and I’ll never link to stuff I don’t like or try to make you buy something that sucks. These reviews are my honest opinions. Thanks for reading.

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Meet Stumpy. This pale zombie was the subject of a video I shot during a daylong class at the San Antonio Express-News offered by Angela Grant, our online media producer.

Angela gave us tips about how to shoot video. Then she sent us out to film whatever we wanted for a few hours. After that, we returned to the office and she showed us how to edit our clips using Final Cut Pro on a Macintosh.

I love the power of the written word. But some of the best stories being told at my newspaper have never appeared in print.

Thanks to Angela, the Express-News has produced interesting online videos that are essentially mini-documentaries. Most are about two minutes long. Unlike many annoying TV news broadcasts, the reporters don’t inject themselves in the middle of the story.

Related: Tips for shooting better video of anything

Angela announced that she’s moving to Houston, which is great for her but bad for the newspaper. Angela helped us produce professional videos that anyone — not just journalists — can learn to make. Angela blogs about the finer points of videos at newsvideographer.com.

There’s a debate in newsrooms about whether online videos are worth it. Angela blogged about her frustrations with building a loyal audience — most of the paper’s videos don’t muster more than 1,000 web hits. I’ve wondered if this is because people are only interested in YouTube videos of laughing babies, or if it’s because we make it difficult for readers to find and share our videos. (Notice how my video in this blog isn’t actually embedded? That’s because our web site won’t let me.)

I hope we figure it out. When they’re done right, online videos compliment news articles by showing readers information in a way that written words can’t.

In August, the Express-News sent me to Portland, Ore., for a story about that city’s light-rail system. I shot some video while I was up there.

The finished product won’t win any awards at Sundance. But the goal of the trip was to see what light rail is like in Portland, and share that information with readers in San Antonio, many of whom have never traveled on light rail.

By that standard, I think the video worked. It showed people how a light-rail train looks and sounds, and it might help them decide if it makes sense for San Antonio.

If it helped people make an informed decision, then the video served its purpose.

Thanks, Angela.

The post Stumpy’s story: How I learned to shoot news video and edit footage appeared first on John Tedesco.