Ok, corny title. Met a nice guy at my niece’s wedding this weekend. He is going to produce the video for the event and we got to talking about Neat Video. Ya see, with digital cameras and a dark event like a wedding its not uncommon to experience noise (grainy image) in the darker scenes. Some of you I am sure know what I am talking about and have experienced this with your phone or even low priced cameras. There is only a couple ways to get around this… add light or increase the cameras ability to bring in light. Both of these options are limited. I am sure if you cranked up the candle power on your lights at the reception you’d piss off the bride and the camera can only do so much to bring in more light. In comes Neat Video. Just like Dolby Noise Reduction used to reduce the tape hiss or “noise” of your old cassettes, Neat Video reduces video noise. I know, I know not “just like” but its a simple way to look at it. Neat Video is available as a plug in for many editors and the way it is used is generally the same for all. It goes for $99 and it is available at www.neatvideo.com. Take a look below at my sample of it being used in FCPX. Its fairly easy and may help you save that shot.
