Best affordable greenscreen kit. Care to suggest any?

Retrospective

Retrospective

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I am looking for an affordable green screen solution. I need a greenscreen backgroup like Muslin cloth, stand and a light kit.

What are your experiences with ePhotoInc? They seem to have some really good prices but not sure about the quality of their products.


2400 watt ChromaKey Green Screen 10 x 12 ft
http://www.ephotoinc.com/2400-watt-chromakey-green-screen-10-x-12-ft-digital-video-film24001012.html

10x24FT VIDEO CHROMAKEY GREEN SCREEN SUPPORT STANDS KIT
http://www.ephotoinc.com/10x24ft-video-chromakey-green-screen-support-stands1024.html

These 2 cost around ~$400 and the shipping is a whoopping ~$200 via UPS Worldwide Expedite to Canada.

Knowing these things are heavy to be shipped, the price can be hefty but is it a justified cost to pay that much though?

Let me know your buying experiences with green screen and light kits that are unusually large and heavy.

Thank you!
 
I've got a simple wescott 12'x24' foot greenscreen backdrop. I just used a couple of daylight balanced caselight 4's to light the screen, a lowel rifa 55 as a key and bounced a lowel V light off the ceiling for the talent on this quick 'n' dirty test I did in my living room:

science_forget.jpg


Seemed to work OK enough for me. Close enough for government work as they say.

...or if you want to view the 1280x640 test clip you can click on link below:

http://techyoumedia.com/greenscreen_quicktest/greenscreen_test.html
 
I've ordered backdrops from them before. You get what you pay for. For that price (minus the shipping) You get a thin backdrop that gets the job done. Everything keys pretty well for me. But the fabric is thin and you can see slightly through it, which suprisingly hasn't cause any problems yet. I'd say if you are on a budget, it's fine, but when you can afford it to move to something much higher quality.

Not worth it if you include those ridiculous shipping costs imo.
 
You actually DO get what you pay for with green/blue screens. The fabric is as important as the color. Sheen, reflection, etc, all contribute to a great or poor key and the fabric used by Westcott and other names are made to limit those faults. I've shoot with cheap setups and good screens. You can tell the difference.
 
Craig: That's later in the script? Aren't they usually nice in the beginning and a possessed zombie later? LOL! Looks sharp!
 
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That's a great key Craig! Very clean! What's the camera did you use?

Jim & Craig. I've heard a lot of good reviews about Westcott, I'll look into it but considering that my budget is very low I might get cheaper lights but a more high grade green screen like Westcott.

BournsProductions have you ever bought any of ePhoto's lights? Anyone tried them before?

Thanks!
 
My .02 - a cheap muslin screen can work fine; if $$ are truly limited, spend on lighting it first.

If you're shooting a DSLR consider daylight - some sort of flo solution - my experience is you get cleaner compression due to lack of gain in the blue channel (already the noisiest channel) under tungsten.

If you have falloff at the edges of your frame, it's more work to key, especially if action covers those areas.

And if you want to save some time in post - use plenty of clamps to pull the screen tight, and invest in a handheld travel steamer or a steamer-on-wheels (they're like $140 or less, wardrobe will LOVE you for having one, and when you store it in your laundry room, you - or your mrs. - will wonder how you ever got by without one if you like your shirts t be at least basically unwrinkled).
 
I got mine at tubetape.com only cost me about $200 for the cloth and stands, And I got the biggest one. It was cheap, and you can kinda tell, but it gets the job done.

I should note though, that I just got a cheap one because I practically never use it. I'm an on location kinda guy.
 
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