lights for studio?

F

firehawk

Veteran
I am looking for economical lighting suggestions for a green screen and white cyc.
EDIT: I'm still trying to determine details but most likely the green surface area would be 28'W X ~16'H X 20'D
The ceiling would be 16' clear to allow for fixture hanging.

At first I may use the foam backed fabric I already have for a smaller green area until I can expand the green area which may end up being paint.
I haven't decided how to work out the white cyc. If it's in an opposing corner or wall I will have to have extra space plus extra lights else move lights back and forth as needed. Another option is re-painting the same space..
I realize prices can vary a ton so I am looking for decent (not top end stuff) ideas and I will allow for the budget even if I have to do it over time.
 
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My (now ex studio - there was a fire - thanks neighbours!) leads my to some thoughts.

We made a white box and had a roll down green screen (4m wide)

Firstly in the world of white boxes anything not white ends up being a monster pain for reflextions.

My black light grid up the top and the rolled up green screen made trouble when shooting in 'white mode'

So.. I would go for a white base and make anything not white removable if possible.

Have some hooks (painted white) ready to recieve your greenscreen on a roll.

So lights.

You have two sorts of light .. ones that will hit the subject (need high CRI) and ones just on the background (low CRI)

Or do your background lights do double duty come on jobs with you?

So for a pernament build where you dont care about the colour quality of the Background you can go some distance with non movie lights.

LED Bar lights for 4x4 vehicles get you Lumens/$ - probably the cheapest thing to light a green screen. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/MICTUNING-...keywords=light+bar+4by4&qid=1624984227&sr=8-8) You need a 24v dc box also on amazon.

Stage companies light Chauvix (??) do some lights that are (less) cheap too. (https://www.chauvetdj.com/products/beambar/)

With cheap lights watch for flicker above 100FPS.

If these lights do double duty (and com on location with you - you need CRI) then maybe some (3) 200w 2*1 panels (or godox 200) as good lumen/$

For key I think you want whatevers this years thing in movie lighting. ..

Godox 200 (my cheap favorite)
Forza 500
Ap 600
Arri orbiter (!)

Now fire those through a 6.6 , 8.8 12.12 grid to creat a base
A few like that and also fresnel spots for backlight or whatever a studio needs to make effects and looks.

For a lighting grid (ceiling rig) we had a full black pantograph system and the relflections sucked (we also had roof tiles- bad) . Doing it again Id go for natural colour scaffold and completely plain roof (if possible)

Remember subject to background distance is the king of good studio work.

****
If you dont care about power, money, heat or danger.. you can get 20 2-5k tungsten fixtures probably free !
 
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The space is big - so you're going to need big soft sources and quite a lot of bright ones. I'm not sure there is a true cheap solution for even white lighting any longer. Most of the economic soft sources are low on light output when you have 30ft width, with 20ft depth. That's wide enough that the light will start to fall if the fixtures are very far apart.
 
There a lot of diy green screen youtube videos. I always recommend this one to start with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH8TWTt51W8&t=842s

Two fluorescent light banks at 45 degrees for the background is the most inexpensive option. You can also use LED replacement fluorescent tubes but they get expensive and might be prone to flickering especially when dimmed. This is a risk with any inexpensive led lighting.
 
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Ahh thank you very much.
I realized I should give more info.
The background lights I want permanent so once evenly configured I can just turn them on when needed.
The subject/talent lights may serve double duty and I already have those for now. Plan to use my led and RGB lights on stands on the talent for now, except for hair/back light (I want to hang those) It's the background light fixtures (and hair/back lights) I'm trying to figure out and budget for
 
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Though I want to light the 20' depth its not required ..yet. I realize cost may require me use less of it at first and then light it more over time
 
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I don’t agree with using sub-par lights on the cyc. It’s white. If they’re “off”(color/quality), it’s really gonna show.
 
Oddly, my rule for white is simply that they must all be the same. The CRI thing clouds the issue because if your workflow is shoot, edit, distribute, then having not just white correct, but the subtle shades right too is important. If, however, your workflow includes a colour tweaking stage, and so many people seem to do this automatically now, then having tints added artificially is hardly impacted by slight spikes in the spectrum. For me, the only thing different about LED of any type is simply that we have clean white and dirty white, and that difference is very obvious. Fixtures with two sets of LEDs for say, 3200 and 5600 look a bit strange on set and skin set to 4400 for a compromise. My studio is now 5600k and occasionally a 3200 will creep in for a bit of deliberate warmth, and
LED or tungsten seems to work OK. My purist friends and not quite friends often disagree, one cited on Facebook one of my images as proof my plentiful but cheaper LEDs were rubbish. He got them the wrong way around. The tungsten was the rubbish LED and the
LED he assumed was tungsten. I keep meaning when I have time to make some large LED tape soft lights. I’m thinking about slicing some 8x1 sheets and putting strips of LED tape on them and hang them horizontally to light my backgrounds. I did have the idea to use a large cardboard tube too, and have the strips attached with the spacing adjusted so at the bottom the strips neatly touch, but at 90 degrees around, raving the cloth not the floor, the spacing is greater. The idea to increase output to match the distance drop off. That’s my idea. No idea if it will work but I’m going to try when I have the time.
 
Run&Gun said:
I don’t agree with using sub-par lights on the cyc. It’s white. If they’re “off”(color/quality), it’s really gonna show.
Click to expand...

Everything is a balance. 20 Skypanels would be great and also break the bank.

I particularly think it is OK to use cheap LED with a green tint for lighting greenscreen, indeed maybe white less so.

But in the last decade the shift of cheap LEDs has got less bad.. I mean only three or four factories make LEDs anyway and they have got better.

The OP should perform his own tests and set his own standards. Over time Ive bought various worklights and non has been good enough for me to buy 10+ of them, even if that was the plan

In this ivdeo I do not clarify that left and right of the test fixture are my Lupo panel and fresnel.
https://vimeo.com/215396682
 
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I think that throwing green LED light at a green screen actually helps. I'm lucky enough to have lots of theatrical RGBW lighting and zoom wash lights in green do great keys in Premiere. It does seem rather pointless to throw blue and red light at a green wall, but the interesting thing is that red and Blue LED light do make the wall illuminate. Not much, but there is some response. Green fabric and paint does seem to reflect the other colours just a little. With green light only, that reflection of other colours is reduced.
 
I used to do a fair amount of green screen work years ago. I wanted to buy some green Kino tubes, but never did. With all of the "RBG" LED"s that I have now, I'd like to try tuning them to green on my next green screen shoot and see how much that helps. Of course, most software is so damn good now, you usually have to really screw up to not be able to pull a clean key.

Yeah, personally I wouldn't usually "waste" SkyPanels(if it was my money) lighting a white cyc, but I do usually use my Intellytech's and/or Quasar tubes, which both make very clean and accurate white light, when I light my seamless white backgrounds. Those are also lights I will and have used on people.
 
Thanks everyone. I looked at the cheap lights and don't want flicker at high frame rates.
Still not sure what to budget for. Hopefully less than $15k.
The room would be 40' deep x 29'8" wide x 16' clear height.
The green screen area ~20' deep x ~29'8" wide x ~16' height.

I'm not sure what size the lighting grid above should be. Trying to determine that and weight load and electrical load to allow for that.
And also want the ability to hang a soft source above to shoot down on a car. Could I hang a COD light pointing down through a large framed diffuser?

Also still looking for a way to be able to shoot white cyc. Due to size the only way I see is to use paint and repaint. Or make the large space primarilly one or the other and have a smaller drop in option for the other. So I could do a large green or small white. Or large white or small green.
Here is rough pic of the space to visualize
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u5ox2wuw9f1bbla/green studio.jpg?dl=0
 
What quality do you want as the final result?

Honestly, the viewers don't know the difference between OK and Gordon Willis. The pros might but these days a typical YouTube clip is good enough. A few 50w fresnels should get you there.
 
DLD said:
What quality do you want as the final result?

Honestly, the viewers don't know the difference between OK and Gordon Willis. The pros might but these days a typical YouTube clip is good enough. A few 50w fresnels should get you there.
Click to expand...

I would like the lights to properly light the green walls for an easy key and some backlights/hairlights. I have key and fill lights already that I can move around on the talent.
Some work is quality for clients and some will be lesser quality for non-paying youtube videos.

The last large green screen (12' high, 12' wide with 10' floor) I just used soft lights on stands so I've never actually rigged proper lights to light one from above nor one this large so I'm out of my league
 
firehawk said:
Thanks everyone. I looked at the cheap lights and don't want flicker at high frame rates.
Still not sure what to budget for. Hopefully less than $15k.
The room would be 40' deep x 29'8" wide x 16' clear height.
The green screen area ~20' deep x ~29'8" wide x ~16' height.

I'm not sure what size the lighting grid above should be. Trying to determine that and weight load and electrical load to allow for that.
And also want the ability to hang a soft source above to shoot down on a car. Could I hang a COD light pointing down through a large framed diffuser?

Also still looking for a way to be able to shoot white cyc. Due to size the only way I see is to use paint and repaint. Or make the large space primarilly one or the other and have a smaller drop in option for the other. So I could do a large green or small white. Or large white or small green.
Here is rough pic of the space to visualize
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u5ox2wuw9f1bbla/green studio.jpg?dl=0
Click to expand...

Unless you are doing a LOT of green screen work, I think you may be wasting valuable space dedicating a section to permanently making it green screen. Even in large studio’s with the space, I rarely see a dedicated green cyc. Unless it has a permanent/semi-permanent set, there’s usually a white cyc and/or just black walls & floors, with moveable curtains(usually black and green).
 
Run&Gun said:
Unless you are doing a LOT of green screen work, I think you may be wasting valuable space dedicating a section to permanently making it green screen. Even in large studio’s with the space, I rarely see a dedicated green cyc. Unless it has a permanent/semi-permanent set, there’s usually a white cyc and/or just black walls & floors, with moveable curtains(usually black and green).
Click to expand...
Thank you. So you are recommending white cyc primary with ability to transform to some capacity to green or another color when needed?
 
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