Need critique of these greenscreen / lighting kits

[Shawn Whiting]

Hey Everyone,

So after browsing some sites looking to put together a beginners green screen kit, these are some of the options ive come up with. Let me know if there are details i may be missing about some of the products that would sway my decision, or if you have had a positive or negative experience with any of these companies / products.


Green Screen option 1:
- Impact Background Support System:
B&H Photo Video | Digital Cameras, Camcorders
- Impact 10'x12' Green Chroma Sheet:
B&H Photo Video | Digital Cameras, Camcorders


Green Screen option 2:
TubeTape Green Screen and Support Stand:
TubeTape Messages


Lighting option 1:
- ImageWest.tv $299 kit:
imageWest - Professional Studio Lighting
- Light subject w/ CFL's from local hardware store.


Lighting option 2:
- Amazon 1200 Watt Fluorescent kit:
http://www.amazon.com/Exclusive-Fluo...7495324&sr=1-2
- Amazon 600 Watt Fluorescent kit: (for subject?)
http://www.amazon.com/Kaeser-Cool-Fl...pr_product_top


Lighting option 3:
- Get everything from hardware store and rig my own lights. Read one article that suggested that "Fluorescent pans (fixtures with two or more tubes) make great soft lights".


Let me know what you think about these options or if you would suggest something not on the list. Thanks!

[Denny Lajeunesse]

I went with a kit off ebay. It only had 2 lights (Flourecent soft boxes w stands) but it had a 10' x 20' green screen with mounting stands etc. all for under $400.

[Shawn Whiting]

Did the Ebay kit work well for you? Anyone else have an experience w/ greenscreen & lighting they could share to help my decision or have a recommendation on the kits i put together?

[Shawn Whiting]

Humm what about this cheap starter kit.

Amazon.com: Photo Basics 402 uLite Video Lighting Kit: Electronics

I'll be shooting in a room (just for this project) with fluorescent lights, so the room is already evenly lit. So i would have this setup behind the subject, hopefully with no tungsten light leak, key it out, and white balance for the subject / around 4500k - 5600k. Maybe adding a clamp lamp or two fluorescent balanced from the local home depot to fill in any bad shadows on the subjects face. Anyone see a problem with this?

[Les Wilson]

Lighting is not done with equipment, it's done with knowledge, skill and artistic talent. Equipment is merely the tool by which someone skilled in the craft creates a properly lit scene.

The best advice anyone can give you is to search in this forum and read the many threads on lighting for green screen. One theme you will find about lighting in general is the fallacy of lighting kits. They are not like a model that you put together from instructions and viola, you have a properly lit scene. Good lighting takes months/years of doing it to get good at it. Here's an article by one of the great lighting guys to get you started:
BlueSky - Lighting examples-Green Screen

Here's one on lighting kits:
Light Kit

You don't want an evenly lit room and mixing light temperatures thinking you can remove it in post is risky. Good lighting is done by precise "painting with light". Green screen is one of the more advanced setups. That said, if you are just making a video for fun and not concerned with getting professional results, by all means go right ahead. You have to do lighting to learn lighting and making mistakes will teach you a lot. Many here will argue that buying a kit thinking that's all you need is one such mistake. At best, think of it as seeding the start of the journey toward having something like the kit explained in the article above. YMMV

[Denny Lajeunesse]

Yeah. I agree with Les. Does one ever feel like they have enough lighting equipment?

You'll want to pick up several gels for color correction if you are shooting with mixed lighting. Lee has an online calculator for determining what gel to use to match one color temp bulb to another.

Color correcting mixed lighting in post can be a nightmare if not impossible.

[Shawn Whiting]

Im wondering if it wouldn't just be easier and a better long term investment to find some halogen or tungsten lights and put a blue gel over them to achieve 5600k. That way i have tungsten and daylight balanced lights for the future. What you guys think?

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Shawn Whiting

find some halogen or tungsten lights and put a blue gel over them to achieve 5600k.

Keep in mind that a full blue correction gel has a transmission factor of about 20 - 25% so a 1000w tungsten instrument ends up around 200-250 watts by the time it's corrected to daylight - AND generating a TON of heat in the process.

Converting tungsten to daylight IS a necessary "evil" but should never be one's FIRST line of defense if one intends to compliment or combat daylight light sources on a regular basis.

[Denny Lajeunesse]

5600k tend to be brighter per watt. So stepping down a daylight bulb to tungsten makes more sense to me.