Noise Reduction Options: Help
 

I recently shot some footage using my Canon XH-A1 HDV camera. Due to the lighting situation I was forced to use a gain setting of +3 on the camera (I generally try not to use any gain if possible to minimize noise). Setting the gain to +3 seems to have introduced a fair amount of noise into the image background (a static concrete wall). I understand that I made the mistake of not using the camera's noise reduction settings when I was shooting, but I wanted to see if anything can be done in post to remove some of the noise from the image? I am editing HDV footage (.m2v) using Final Cut Pro 5.1.4.

Thanks,
Hugh

If you Google it you'll find a few plug-ins for FCP for noise reduction, but as a general rule NR will also soften the image sometimes to a point where faces especially don't look normal or pleasant.

The only way to know what will work for you is to download some demo's (try looking at the downloads page on Apple's site too, they always have popular FCP plug-ins listed there) and try them out and see how the effect works for you.

FCP 6 has built-in NR filters, by the way.