joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I do a lot of green screen presenter links for work and usually use a Sony EX1/3 however i want to get a DSLR and hopefully start using that! can anyone recommend the best DSLR for green screen work Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 for greenscreen the best is anything with 4:2:2 so ... no DSLR and a Camcorder with 4:2:2 starts at 2000€ so I would wait and by a BMCC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 I thought people use DSLRs for green screen shoots all the time?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharding Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Just out of interest, why do you want to use an SLR? If you're green screening you won't need low light sensitivity or shallow DOF, will you? In that situation I'd stick an external recorder into the EX3, personally, it's still a great tool. You'll get plenty of resolution (more than an SLR) in I-frame 422. I've had to deal with tons of 5Dii green screen that keyed fine for most purposes, if delivery in 720p. 420 suffers mostly in the red channel, as long as your green doesn't border pure red you should be alright. 422 is preferable though, of course. If your current tool works, perhaps don't change it... Get an SLR still though, they're awesome for everything else ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 would a 5d mark ii be the best dslr then, or would a 600d/t3i do a similarly good job on green screen? i want a camera i can use on shoots and for green screen- and id love to get a dslr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgharding Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 If you want ultimate uncompressed sharpness though, try a BMD. That gives you 1000 lines of res with no subsampling and amazing colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 Im looking for something more around the 1000 dollars mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted August 30, 2012 Administrators Share Posted August 30, 2012 Well for under $1000 you are looking at what has the best codec & cleanest detail, and that is the GH2 with the hack. The GH1 has 4-2-2 but only in MJPEG mode at 720/30p. I'd say rather than chase 4-2-2 (which you cannot get for your price range in 1080p on a large sensor) the GH2 will make your job the easiest in post because of the high bitrates and clean resolution. itimjim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraboy Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 new Apocalypse Now 444 patch looks great.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richg101 Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 vg20? clean hdmi output 4:2:2 Maybe you get one without a lens for £1000 in a few months when they release new model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I shot this pop video with Canon 5Dmk2 and 550D - this is the Making of Video .....so you can see the green screen huge green screen on a custom built set , all worked really well no issues in post., MTV had the video on heavy rotation....job done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkbNHe5vSc&feature=player_embedded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 was it easier/harder to key the green with 550d footage or 5dmk ii or was it the same for both? im guessing 5d was easier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 [quote name='cameraboy' timestamp='1346346150' post='16988'] new Apocalypse Now 444 patch looks great.... [/quote] sorry can you explain what this means, im a bit of a novice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 this guy claims GH2 is a nightmare to key, apparantly the 7D is very good... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unb7aUOH4UM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted August 30, 2012 Administrators Share Posted August 30, 2012 I wish these guys would write it down!! He says it is awful but he doesn't say why. He doesn't reveal his techniques either. Could easily be user error. I just can't tell. He says the slightest shadow on an unevenly lit green screen broke the keying. So effectively if green is in shadow, it isn't green on the GH2 any more. Hmm. Don't believe that for a second. I'm trying to give him benefit of the doubt but he says things like this: [color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][size=3][left][background=rgb(235, 235, 235)]I've actually been reducing the red channel for noise reduction purposes the last two days (you can do that in the white balance adjustments on the GH2), and have discovered outrageous things like ISO 3200 that is indistinguishable from ISO 800.[/background][/left][/size][/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galenb Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Well, I do VFX/CG Animation for a living. I have no idea why he wouldn't be able to get a good key off a GH2 versus a 7D. That doesn't make any sense. Maybe someone with a GH2 can do some tests? Anyway baring that, I'll say that yes, for your budget the GH2 is probably the right camera. Not that I've ever had to key GH2 footage. I've mostly dealt with RED and Canon 5D/7D footage. The biggest issue for me when keying DSLR footage (and the biggest difference between that and the RED) is the compression in the details and across color gradations. Since the hacked GH2 can give you much finer details due to less compression, it's going to be the better camera for green screen work in your budget. That said, I've never had a shot that couldn't be dealt with in some way. You can always use multiple keys for different areas of the shot, garbage masks and if worse comes to worse, you always just hand roto. While working on commercials, a lot of times they don't have a technical director on set and they shoot stuff without knowing exactly what to do. Or sometimes, you just don't know because you've never done anything like that. In those cases, hind sight is always 20/20 but you end up learning a lot in the process. If you wanted to avoid all the pit falls and be as safe and practical as you possibly could, you'd just shoot on a RED or similar high end camera and be done with it. But, being as it is that you are on a budget, I think you'll be just fine with a hacked GH2. As far as Canon cameras go, I personally wouldn't choose a 7D. Not even for anything else to be quite frank. I know a ton of people who have 7D's and they always look soft and smeared. Keying hair is a real problem on the 7D because of this. If you are stuck on Canon cameras, I think you are better off saving your money and getting something like a t3i or similar and just selling it later or. You can spend the money you saved on the 7D and get a nice lens. ;-) In my eyes the step up in quality from a t3i to 7D is a lot less noticeable then going up to a 5DII since the t2/3/4i all have essentially the same APS-C sensor as a 7D. But again, as long as you are not expecting ILM quality green screen keying, you should be just fine. Later when you have the money to make a larger budget film, you can just rent a RED or something similar. joeyd and Andrew Reid 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 do you what a good canon lens would be for doing green screen? im thinking about just getting a t3i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenogears Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Not a DSLR, but for green screen work at good price hardly can find something better than the Blackmagic Cinema Camera: -12Bit CinemaDNG RAW for great color information - 2.5K resolution for better compositing because the size. Is really a great postproduction camera ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galenb Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I used to be totally against using Canon DSLR's for VFX shots. The problem I've run into is that the rolling shutter is pretty bad. But, as long as you don't intend to do any 3D tracking (planer tracking isn't as much of an issue) you should be fine. 3D tracking is for when you want to insert a fully rendered CG element like a monster or car or something into a moving, live action shot and you want it to track with perspective changes. If the shot has a lot of distorted angles due to rolling shutter, the tracking will fail or produce bogus results. So, just keep that in mind when you are shooting. If you do intend to do that, then just avoid any hand held shots to keep the movement down to a minimum. An added bonus of the T3i is Magic Lantern. I've never used it myself but I have a thing for focus assist with peaking and it looks pretty cool. About lenses: I don't think this should be as big of a concern to green screen as it would be to just the style of your film. I mean, do you want to shoot wide or medium or closeup or... All of the above? those are the things that will dictate what lens to use. There are the obvious concerns with sharpness and it's effect on green screen but really, if you are that concerned, only a very expensive cinema lens will do. Since you are on a $1000 budget, I'd say to just find some cheap primes. They are usually shaper then a zoom lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyd Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 Ok- yes its only going to be a very basic green screen shoot- presenter links with a teleprompter device and a basic static background. Medium shot of presenter in studio. Has anyone ever connected a telepromptet device to their dslr for a shoot? Last question- im trying to decide on t3i or t4i. Obviously i can get magic lantern on t3i and not t4i- is this enough reason to go for t3i... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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