Need help selecting green screen

HeXman

HeXman

Active member
Hello guys,

I want to buy a new green screen for my studio but I'm not sure which one is worth my money.

Since there are tons of brands and places to buy, I though someone could help me out with this.

Situation: I need a green screen that can be attached to my mounting stands.
Purpose: Record HD video on a studio.
Budget: $100 - $400
Size: 12 x 12 aprox.

The few times I had the opportunity to shoot on a green screen, I learn the lesson the hard way. I purchase a cheap green fabric to make a video, which later turn into a nightmare (when editing the chroma key), so this time I'm willing to invest on something that actually works and saves me some headaches even if I have to pay some extra cash.

any recommendations?
 
Superior Seamless has an inexpensive paper product that we get great feedback on - available in 9' x 36' or 12' x 50' sizes. $56 and $155 list, respectively. These are on heavy 1" tube cores and are obviously designed to be disposable. Most Barbizon locations will have stock in green in both sizes. There are also muslin options from them, which do come folded. 10' x 24' green heavy muslin is $158 list.
 
Thanks for the responses,

I actually just did some more research and I found out that apparently there is a company called LA RAG that sells a green chroma screen called "Polypro" that is apparently better and cheaper than the eefx. This new product includes grommets, is water resistant and nothing happens to it when shooting outdoors, meaning that the color won't fade away.

The price for a 9 x 20 screen is $270

So far I haven't been able to find something better for that price, but I'm still not sure which material is better since I haven't had the experience using those textiles.

According to EEFX, "MOST other chroma key fabric backdrops are thin, highly susceptible to wrinkles and must be finished on all sides to prevent them from unraveling on the edges. These backdrops are commonly muslin, cotton, polyester or cotton/poly blends. Because of our three layer laminate design, EEFX foam-backed fabric is extremely strong and will not fray or unravel on the edges"

I'm imagining that the "Polypro" material from LA RAG is made of polyester, and since the EEFX company states that polyester is not a good chroma material, that got me a little bit confused.


http://www.laraghouse.com/gallery/v/textiles/
http://www.eefx.com/eefx2/store/chroma_key_greenscreen_bk.html

Does somebody has experience using these materials?
 
laraghouse.com

You'll get industry standard eyelets on all four sides, industry standard opaque black backing, and a bag. You can order custom sizes, also.

Laraghouse provides screens to major rental houses, so I doubt they're using inferior materials. In fact, I ordered some very large blue and greenscreens from them for a feature I produce on and they've been taking some major abuse and are still holding up.

I own an eefx screen and it's the exact same material that laraghouse uses, FYI.
 
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@ Chris

Thanks for the information!!

which material are you using?

At LARAGHOUSE they have a new material called "polypro" that apparently is better than the Tempo chroma green they sell, so I wonder if that's the one you are using.
 
The screens I ordered from them were ordered a few years ago. I really don't know what polypro is, but if it's an improved material from what I ordered, sounds good to me.
 
Has anyone else had trouble dealing with eefx? They don't just have bad customer service, they have no customer service at all. It is nearly impossible to get a hold of them in person and I've never had a response back from them after leaving many e-mails and voice mails. I'll be looking into some of the other companies that have been listed here. eefx has completely failed to deliver.
 
HeXman did not actually reveal what lesson he learned the hard way? Was it related to the greenscreen material itself? Or was it lighting, or staging, or camera, or file codec, or one of the other problems encountered using green/blue screens?
 
Erik Olson said:
Superior Seamless has an inexpensive paper product that we get great feedback on - available in 9' x 36' or 12' x 50' sizes. $56 and $155 list, respectively. These are on heavy 1" tube cores and are obviously designed to be disposable. Most Barbizon locations will have stock in green in both sizes. There are also muslin options from them, which do come folded. 10' x 24' green heavy muslin is $158 list.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with Erik! I use the Superior Seamless often, swear by it and for the money depending on how much you need, it is a great buy and easy to work with, keep what is good and recycle the part that is marked and not reusable.
 
I was happy with eefx, but I can understand budget constraints. As for the material, think 'soft car headlliner.' As for pulling a clean key, lighting is often more important than screen material. Another thing to remember: shoot a few secs of the screen after the lighting is set up and before the talent walks on. A blank screen can really help in post.
 
I am looking at getting a 15' x 15' Digi Green greenscreen from laraghouse. They have "Tempo" fabric and "Poly Pro" for the same price. Can anyone fill me in on the pros and cons of the two types of fabrics?
Thanks,
Mike
 
I would also like to know the difference. So who is better to buy from, (cheaper) if they are the same product. EEFX or laraghouse. I am going to get 12 X something. Maybe 12X12.
 
I found this description of Poly Pro at Rosebrand.com:

"A new, inherently flame retardant matte fabric preferred by major movie studios, with a brushed finish - the latest in keying fabric ..."

I still don't know if there might be any disadvantages to it, though.
 
On the budget-ish side - In the last 2 years I've done dozens of broadcast spots, music videos, and web videos and keyed hundreds of shots. One project had 82 composited shots.

I've done it all with eBay muslin screens. Yep, a garment steamer is handy on set. But I've bought 10x20's for under $60. I have probably six screens from different vendors; all look to be exactly the same color, and with proper lighting their RGB histograms get very close to R:0 G:255 B:0 - and keeping the green on one channel is huge and my benchmark for good paint or backdrops. I like the price because I have zero problem cutting one up to wrap something, etc.

For paper, I've only tried the Savage Chromakey Green. I found it a little less saturated, kind of gray (it's uncoated paper so saturation isn't going to be its strong point). But it's very good for floors and a 9' wide roll is about $60 locally.

I have one screen with grommets but never ended up using it since it messes with the floor line. I mounted two sort of "S" shaped wooden channels to the studio wall and stretch the screen across them - at 16', I just need one support in the center to keep it nice & taught.
 
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