Red Giant has recently changed and unified their installers. Let's start at the beginning: the installer. A shot from a test clip shot at a very noisy ISO 12800 Installing Denoiser II Instead of a limited ISO 3200, I could now feed the plug-in a whopping and very noisy ISO 12800 ( Figure 1, below)!įigure 1. I didn't use the famous hack to increase the bitrate, but did use it to remove the ISO limit in video mode. Let's face it: We can usually light an interview the way we want, but if we're shooting weddings, spontaneous shenanigans on the dancefloor are a different matter.Īll the footage captured for this test consisted of AVCHD MTS files as shot by a Panasonic GH2. I shot a bit of footage specifically to test the software and also fed it some really noisy, hectic dance footage. I used the plug-in in both Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS6, not expecting different end results, but maybe a different render time. This is where Denoiser II comes (or at least tries to come) to the rescue. I'm sure many run-and-gun producers have come across footage that looks just a bit too noisy to use, but includes pivotal shots that are essential to their film. However, even the best-laid plans can fail adding light might not be an option, and a focus field the size of a needle tip is not necessarily a look one wants. If you can add light or adjust your aperture to deal to compensate for a low-light situation, this should be a first port of call. Let's be honest: However clever a piece of software might be, nothing beats getting the shot right in the first place. In a market where DSLRs with massive, light-sensitive sensors are very much the default choice, and prime lenses down to a mouth-watering f/0.95 are widely available, one might wonder exactly what problem this filter is trying to solve. The necessity of a professional tool to remove video noise in post presumes that lots of pros are still capturing noisy video. What Denoiser Does: Video Noise Removalĭenoiser II, as the name suggests, tries to remove or minimize video noise you might have on your footage. I tested it on a few of our systems, but the main system used was a 6-core AMD system with Nvidia Cuda card and a raid storage array running Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and CS6. The plug-in I received for review is Denoiser II ($99). Granted, this piece of software did result in a barrage of faked DOF and clips with an inconsistent heavily graded look, but in the hands of a professional, it is a great tool. You would be hard pressed to find a single event videographer/editor who has not used or at least heard of their Magic Bullet Looks.

As an event videographer and documentary filmmaker, I can say with great confidence that Red Giant has made its mark on our industry. When I was asked to review the latest video plug-in release from Red Giant Software, I couldn't wait to get started.

Magic bullet denoiser ii