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Which lens to use for greenscreen?
I was told by the guy doing our greenscreen special effects work not to use the pro-35mm adapter when shooting the greenscreen scene.
Can anyone suggest a lens that would work well with greenscreen. I was thinking of using a nice ENG zoom (mainly because it’s available to us), but I had also considered a digi-prime.
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4 Replies
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Good advice not to use Pro35 for greenscreen, as you don’t really want extra grain and/or artifacts in your plates that won’t match the backgrounds you’ll be compositing.
As far as lenses, always use the best lenses available. This should be a no brainer. The only reason that the Zeiss DigiPrimes and Zooms are not used for every shoot is that they cost more to own and/or rent. There should be no dispute that they are the best lenses available for 2/3″ imagers that have B4 mounts. After them come the Canon and Fujinon primes and zooms; while the Cine versions arer beefier and minimize ramp and breathing they are essentially the same glass as their ENG cousins.
Suffice it to say that with HD glass as with many other items, you get what you pay for. In the the case of the Zeiss’s it’s better contrast and resolution, both of which are factors in greenscren photography.
JS
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Fujinon E series lenses are quite spectacular. Both the primes and zoom resolve at a level I did not think possible at 720p. Highly recommended.
I own Fujinon C series optics which are quite good too, a better performer than ENG lenses. They are more affordable than the E series.
Chris Bell
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If you can afford to rent a better lens, go for it. If not, I have had great success using our Fujinon HA 18X7.6 ENG lens with chromakey. It’s not my favorite lens for most things, but will work for compositing. Definitely stay away from the Pro35 for chromakey.
You can see an example of using the ENG lens at http://www.screenscape.tv. Go to the portfolio section and click on Gordman’s Spring under Recent. Sorry, its all Flash so I can’t give you a direct link.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
We were thinking of coming out of the Varicam HD-SDI straight to disk for a higher quality shot. The problem is it’s going to cost us more to do that… and I don’t know if the quality difference is enough to justify the cost?
It’s about a 15-20 second sequence of a boy suspended in outer space. the sun and the stars are in the background… there is very little movement.
The CG artist is pretty talented, so my gut is that it’s going to look pretty darn good.
thoughts?
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