Camcorder quality and good green screen compositing?

[rocketman]

I want to invest in some good green screen fabric, as my tests so far with the green plastic table cloth that some people are using have been less than great. I understand that proper lighting is essential to good compositing. Assuming I have my screen and talent correctly lit, I'm wondering if my DV camcorder is good enough quality. It's a Sony TRV-39, with one CCD, 690K effective pixels and 520 lines of horizontal resolution. Is this camera good enough for green screen work if everything is set up correctly? I'd hate to spend the money on good lighting and green screen fabric if I'm limited by my camcorder!

Thanks,

Gary

[ZAPPER]

I seen a wall being built in a studio one time. I think that the only trick to it was an ultra flat paint to help avoid any light reflection. I never did get to see the actual light set-up and before the wall went in they were useing a paper roll back drop. I would bet that B&H would have back drops and info about it.

[edDV]

Get the real stuff Rosco Paint. There has been years of research getting the optimal tight point on the Vectorscope

For DV format, use Green because of the 4:1:1 sampling. Full resolution Y is mostly green.

http://www.rosco.com/us/scenic/chroma_key.asp
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&ci=6445&Q=&O=NavBar

You can probably order it through a paint store or a film and video specialty shop.

PS: flat light on the greenscreen is what you want.

[ZAPPER]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=303104&is=REG

This should link to a back drop

[Red96TA]

rocketman,

I tried the painted wall thing and it worked *alright*. I upgraded to one of the foam backed screens sold by a fellow on ebay and haven't looked back. Your best keys are going to be when you're at least 8-10 feet from the screen. This eliminates most overspill. Your second concern is to get a good keyer. I use Serious Magic Ultra to do my keying as my NLE (Vegas5) seems to only have put chromakeying in as a second thought and really didn't develop it's abilities....translated, keying in VV5 blows.

[edDV]

If you are serious check out
http://www.ultimatte.com/

They have software products that work in windows, mac and linux NLE (and world class hardware products).

The tutorials are still usefull even if you can't afford the software.

I know people in San Francisco who have made a business out of Ultimatte software and a closet sized chromakey insert studio using at first a VX-2000 3CCD DV cam (later a surplus broadcast SDI 4:2:2 cam).

They are about ready to move up to HDTV.

[rocketman]

How do you like working with the foam-backed screen material? I got a 2'x2' sample to practice with a miniature and am thinking about getting a full size screen, probably 14'x10'.

I'm using an After Effects plug-in called dvMatte Pro for keying. Much more powerful than the stock stuff in Premiere 6.5.

Gary

[Red96TA]

I have an 8'x10' foam backed and it works pretty well. Even with bad lighting I get pretty good keys. I bought a 10' pvc pipe and cut it in half, then use a coupler to connect the pieces. Once the pvc pieces are connected, I wrap the screen around the pipe and use Home Depot clamps cheapie clamps to hold the screen to the pipe. The the whole unit goes over a couple drape holders to hold it up high.

The whole unit breaks down really quick for weddings and such and the screen is pretty light considering the density of the fabric. I'm pleased.

[edDV]

I'd call "dvMatte Pro" and ask their advice as well.

[themichael]

You can goto your local paint store and get some color samples. Flat green around "arugula" seems to be the most usable color. Then use these to try and see which one keys best with your camera. Then you can find a green fabric to match your camera the best.

[edDV]

The pro chroma key paint is specially made for

Luminance = 57 IRE
NTSC phase = 242 degrees

and when properly lit, forms a tight dot on the vectorscope for separation.

[rocketman]

Many thanks for all the helpful info!

Gary