Prodad Mercalli Easy Video Stabilizer 2.0

What tends to separate amateur video enthusiasts from the pros is simple -wobbly camera work. Most of us move the camera when we're shooting video which results in a range of unpleasant effects - wobble, shake and more - that detract from whatever we're trying to film.

Some video editing programs already include features for removing ordinary camera shake, but the results can be inconsistent. Mercalli Easy Video Stabilizer provides a range of simple tools to fix the most common types of shake with remarkable results; users don't even need to know what they're doing either, since there are literally no settings to change. Instead, it's possible to drag and drop a video file into the Mercalli window, and sit back while the program does its stuff. It checks horizontal and vertical pan movement, roll and zoom as well as horizontal and vertical tilt and then compensates for them.

The difference between a quick recording made on a smartphone, or even a proper video camera, and one that's been processed by Mercalli is dramatic. As well as removing simple up and down hand movements, the software levels irregular pan shots and jerky zooms, stabilises aerial views (for example scenes shot from an aeroplane) and helps keep things centred on the screen. The pan smoothing is particularly effective. For example, driving past something with lots of vertical lines like a glass building and filming it as you go - the resulting video will usually render the vertical lines as slanting in the direction of travel but this is easily corrected.

It's possible to compare the original with the stabilised version using the side-by-side feature. There are also a handful of basic editing features, such as rotating videos from portrait to landscape orientation which is handy for footage recorded on a smartphone. Simple trim controls can be used to select the section you want before saving it out again in one of a range of popular video formats including AVI and WMV.

The in-program ads for other Mercalli products and a handful of other minor niggles are mildly annoying. Nonetheless, for the price, this software is first class.