Way back when, a German company, ProDAD, released a program that was the life saver for anyone with a newfangled digital camera. Y’see back in those dark days of early digi-tech, cameras of the time had two very evil characteristics.
The first was caused by the rolling shutter system used, causing artefacts in images. Who can forget seeing videos of the spinning propellers on aircraft being all bent out of shape?
The second, especially on early GoPros, was a bent horizon due to lens and sensor distortion in those cameras.
That program was called Mercalli and its major reason for being was to eliminate these two issues. The fact it also had the ability to remove shakes and shudders from unstable footage was a big, big bonus.
Well in 2026, Mercalli is back, and bigger and better than ever, and now available as an OFX plugin, meaning it works INSIDE editors such as DaVinci Resolve or Boris Vegas Pro, as against having to process your footage outside of the editor in a separate application and then import into the editor.
All of the functionality has been beefed up too, with new AI powered algorithms taking care of the stabilisation at the click of a button to analyse your video, and a new picture enhancer to optimise exposure, colour and contrast.
No Heavy Cropping
Most standard stabilisation uses heavy cropping techniques to smooth out jerky video, but the programmers at ProDAD have opted to use a smart zoom system that dynamically adjusts the required zoom over time to preserve the maximum field of view with minimal resolution loss.
Unlike other stabilisers that require a clip-by-clip analysis, Mercalli detects scene changes on an entire timeline allowing single pass analysis and correction.
It also includes an extensive selection of pre-defined lens profiles covering the vast majority of user cases. Allied with another ProDAD program, DeFishr, you can create custom profiles measured to your own camera.
And with resolutions getting higher and higher, ProDAD has optimised Mercalli for the future, supporting resolutions up to 16K+.
I used Mercalli extensively in the past, especially on footage from race cars and when fishing from boats – my two favourite past-times. In this latest version I noticed the process has been speeded up quite dramatically, I assume by taking advantage of the latest in GPU hardware acceleration.
There is a newer updated interface too which I applaud as the old one did come across as a bit clunky at times.
Trial Version
It’s relatively easy to explain what Mercalli does, but as they say, “the proof is in the pudding” and for this purpose, there is a trial version available here. The full version is on a special pricing for its launch as an OFX plugin with a saving of 30% bringing it down to AUD$127.40 and downloadable from here.
If you routinely have footage that needs stabilisation for whatever reason, I really suggest you give Mercalli a shot. Whilst most cameras these days have stabilisation built in, or gimbals are used, from my own experience, there are many times when you just don’t have the time to set everything up perfectly, and just in those sessions alone, Mercalli can be a lifesaver.
And its not uncommon for the in-camera stabilisation to be less than stellar and again, Mercalli slots into that need perfectly.
Vitascene
ProDAD hasn’t just stopped at upgrading Mercalli to make it suitable for the latest technology though, another old favourite, Vitascene has also ben given a polish until it shines.
Vitascene is a suite of transitional effects covering a swathe of styles including panoramic, wipes, stretches, spins and kaleidoscopes. In total, across all types, there are more than 1900 to choose from, and again, Vitascene has been upgraded to become an OFX plugin for DaVinci Resolve, Boris Vegas Pro and other OFX compatible packages.
A Vitascene Panoramic Transition
To add a Vitascene transition is a simple drag and drop affair, with options to fine tune then being available (using DaVinci Resolve) in the Inspector. The GPU is used for maximum speed, and resolutions up to 8K+ are supported.
A trial version of Vitascene is available here, and the full download with all 20 packages making up the whole suite costs AUD$250 or so with a launch saving of 25%. You can get that here.