thanks.bw. just shut the noise reduction right off. shut it all off but picked up the shadows. getting a little frustrated.. I suck at post.The noise reduction is kicking butt on the rain. I see a lot of chroma noise ... so if you could just eliminate that you may have a nice compromise. Try going B&W, the noise may add to the rain. Yeah, it's not very sharp. Looks pretty nasty to out there without any gloves.