Optical Image stabilization or Digital Which one is better ?

Hi i am planing to buy a Digital camera for my brother.He says he wants a camera with feature of image stabilization.there are different brands offering different types of zoom Digital and Optical.Now my problem is which one is better Digital or optical? what is a difference between them?

The optical variant is "real" image stabilization and it's what you should look for. A element within the lens construction actually moves to compensate for shaky hands. There is also mechanical image stabilization which is as equally effective; the sensor is placed on a shiftable plane.

Digital image stabilization is, like digital zoom, useless. It's more or less a name for a "feature" that nearly all digital cameras have. DIS works by pushing ISO levels higher when the shutter speed drops below a certain point. The higher the ISO- the more noise appears-the more noise-reduction applied - the worse your images look.

Hey you should buy a camera with good optical image stabilization as it reduced camera shaking.buy a camera with a good optical zoom.Should buy one with 4x optical or more.Optical zoom help you bring the subject from far away to closer.
Don't give attention to the digital zoom.It doesn't matter low or high.