Mercalli from German company ProDAD has been around a while now (along with its other packages such as Vitascene, Prodrenalin and many other utility and very useful apps). Indeed many have probably seen it as an add bundled with their main editing software – both Mac and PC.
If you haven’t come across Mercalli before, it is a program used to stabilise shaky footage and additionally, smooth out horizons that are curved due to lens aberration and finally remove CMOS wobble and skew.
There is now a new version out that takes advantage of so-called “AI”, or as I prefer, machine learning, and ProDAD says it is a huge improvement over something that was already pretty damn good in my opinion.
I’ve had a look through the interface and viewed the online demos etc, and I have to say, on the surface, this new version is very impressive indeed.
Using a DJI Pocket 2, a lightbox, a model car and having it lit by the Zhiyun Fiveray, I threw together a quick test. The final result is below and above it, a screen grab of the program so you can see the difference between the two. I am simply scrubbing through the footage here. I haven’t touched the colour or picture enhancer in this image. ProDAD assures me it would look even better if I had (so I am going to play again today!)
You can download a trial version of Mercalli and have a play yourself. I am going to do a lot more with it, play with the different controls for differing circumstances as well as the colour and lighting optimisations.
I’ll also throw different footage from different cameras at the program
I’ll come back to you soon with an in-depth report.
Film, Video & Virtual reality 