The camera moves very harshly when going up stairs, going up from one level to another instantly. This used to not be the case though, as in 1.4.7 and before all had a smooth camera transition when moving up stairs, lessening the harshness. This feature however was broken in 1.5 and onward. The same camera smoothness from 1.4.7 and before is also in the Bedrock version of the game, making going up stairs a nice and smooth experience as opposed to the harshness in Java.

The player camera being smooth was working in 13w04a and was broken in 13w05a when sprinting up stairs was fixed.