Image quality of NX5U and similar HD cameras

[David Eaks]

I own 2 NX5U’s and Neat Video. I feel your pain regarding the grain! I’ve felt much the way you did about the picture quality and this thread did ease my mind a bit. No complaints from customers though, shooting recitals, meetings and the like it’s all Ohhh’s and Ahhh’s because they are so impressed with HD. They don’t even see the noise.

But I must say that Neat Video is Awesome! You can make huge, vast improvements to noisy low light clips and it’s got decent sharpening as well. Just don’t over do it and be prepared for the long render times!

Also, it is very helpful to keep in mind that Neat Video needs to build a noise profile based off of an area with no detail, like a flat black background. It can be tough to get a good profile if you don’t have a good section of the frame to work with. So be sure to shoot with that in mind if you plan to use Neat.

Does anyone have picture profile settings that they use specifically for low light situations, that they would like to share?