Tagged with chroma - Personal View Talks

budget lights for green screen?

cevahic — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:27:40 +0000

I am buying a Westcott 130 fleece green backdrop: https://www.fjwestcott.com/9-x-10-green-screen-wrinkle-resistant-backdrop

What sort of lights would be best to evenly light this screen and get a perfect key? Ideally under $500 for a pair of lights (or more lights if needed). I am thinking of lights that I can mount on C-Stands or light-stands.

The talent will be lit separately with soft boxes, around 4 meters away from the green screen.

What brand chroma green screen do you use?

f1lm3r — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:39:01 +0000

Just a curious question. There seems to be quite a handful to choose from. I'm looking to do a green screen shoot in the near future for a short film and was looking at picking one up. I know one of the big things to look for is non-reflective and wrinkle-resistant. Westcott seems to be popular brand. But could I just get any old green screen and it'll work?

Green screen in small space

tonalt — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:05:45 +0000

I'm building studio to small room (size about 3m x 3m).

I need 3 backdrops: green (for chroma key), black and white.

For this I already have 3-roller background paper support system (similar to this http://www.ebay.com/itm/400373022462 ).

The background paper will be about 2m wide. Haven't found any place where to get this custom size though. Any ideas?

I will put this in between cheap man's Manfrotto Autopoles: http://www.biltema.fi/fi/Rakentaminen/Vari-ja-Saumaus/Tyokalut/Kattotuki-86034/ . That's the best version in Finland, in US I guess it's this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000067S12/ref=asc_df_B000067S122575981 . Reason for "autopole" is that I don't want to drill extra holes to the wall and the "autopole" provides attachment point for lights etc.

I attach the 3-roller to the "autopoles" using these Manfrotto super clamp replicas: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Articulating-Small-Super-Clamp-Crab-DSLR-Rig-LCD-Monitor-Studio-Light-Magic-Arm-/200926374880 . If I find them to be bad quality, I will buy original super clamps instead.

And then the biggest problem. How to light green screen in limited space? I don't want any extra tripods / softboxes to the studio. I'm thinkg using led lights something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-500-LED-Light-Panel-Photo-Video-Studio-Portrait-Dimmer-Lighting-Filter-/290900481579 on both sides. Hope them will be enough. I would attach them using super clamps and Manfrotto extension arms http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546373-REG/Manfrotto_by_Bogen_Imaging_042_042_Extension_Arm_with.html to the "autopoles". This way I would not have any extra tripods on the floor for the green screen lights.

It would be also cool to have head light attached also to the "autopoles", with something like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546560-REG/Manfrotto_024B_Boom_Assembly_Black.html . The Manfrotto is pretty expensive though so I'm looking for alternative.

I have seen many DIY green screen light projects like this

but those don't get me too excited.

Main purpose for the studio is basic "interview setup" and I aim to get everything as cheap as possible.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Chroma key experiences, workflow,tips, etc

virgilr — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:58:12 +0000

So I've trawled and searched for GH2 user experiences for chroma key work here at PV, and it seems to be spattered and scattered around the boards. I have access to a GH2 that will be used on some upcoming projects, and I'm putting this here for anybody to share their best patch - workflow - tips in terms of pulling the best keys possible using the GH2.

Obviously lighting and setup are critical to pulling good keys, and I know that many may be tempted to say "try it and see"- which I'm definitely willing to do! I'm just trying to shortcut a bit to the best possible starting point I can before delving into the process on my own.

Any sample footage would also be greatly appreciated!

GH2 or GH3 for green screen?

flablo — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:09:39 +0000

Hi, I own a GH2 and a GH3, quite happy with both. I'm going to shoot videoclip on green screen. I already have some experience with GH2 and green screen, and I've already searched and followed all related discussion here on PV (and outside), but one thing I couldn't come up with a decision is basically wether using the GH2 (hacked) or the GH3. What appeals me of the GH3 is essentially the improved DR, while for the GH2 the main factor would be using a hack (Driftwood or CM Green Screen). I would not use the horrid All-I with the GH3. I'm not asking tips on green screen, I just want to know it anyone used both for this task and has some thoughts to share.

Thank you

Which GH2 hack/patch suitable for Avisynth path?

crunchy — Mon, 28 May 2012 17:04:09 +0000

In about a week I'll take a video of one show. Each year I am doing it and each year I am facing some problems. Last year I had broken Chroma Upsampling problems with Sony Vegas and Edius with GH1 footage, this year I'll probably face lower colour resolution problems with GH2.

Namely, I thought that GH2 native progressive files (24H or 24L) will solve all the problems with Broken Chroma upsampling which I experienced with GH1 "interlaced wrapped" progressive files. Now the situation is slightly improved. However, as I am really picky about the quality of my footage, I noticed that colour resolution of the clips, when imported into Sony Vegas and then exported by using loseless codec, is not retained. The colour (spatial) resolution becomes lower.

However, by importing the following Avisynth script

DirectShowSource("name_of_the_file.MTS")

ConvertToRGB

into VirtualDub and exporting by using the same codec, the colour resolution becomes much better. You can see 400% enlarged crop below (the first with Sony and the second with Avisynth-VirtualDub). Please, click on the first two pictures (left & central) to see enlarged view.

So, I still can't use direct way of editing my footage (direct import into Vegas) if the quality should remain on the highest level. So, the first step is to convert the footage, by using Avisynth-VirtualDub, into some codec (e.g. loseless or Morgan) which preserves entire colour information.

However, such workflow is possible with camera factory firmware/settings, but not if I use, for example, Sanity 5 patch/settings. When exporting Sanity 5 footage with Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow, I always get exported file which is more or less garbage (see the third picture) - the picture becomes worse and worse by time.

I know that majority of GH2 owners are probably satisfied with results on the left picture (note again that it's 400% enlarged detail). Unfortunately, I am not. :-(

Is there any other way to get high-quality footage from other lower-bitrate patch (I liked Sanity 5 due to a relatively low bitrate) by using Avisynth-VirtualDub workflow?