Getting Chromakey Wrong - Nigel's Blog

We were really amazed when we did our first DVK-300HD demo...

The Wrong Short Cut

Sometimes it's tempting to go for an all in one solution. It's like my iPhone - it's a mobile phone, mini computer, satnav, video and stills camera, games station and it could probably tell my oven to start cooking my dinner (if I knew how). But I wouldn't rely on it to "phone a friend" in Who Wants to be a Millionaire or to shoot my first Hollywood feature film.

In the last couple of weeks, we've started to realise that you need a lot of time, a professional lighting rig and a green screen back drop that's ironed more often than my suit, to get good chromakey results from a mixer's built-in keyer. A vision mixer may not be the all-in-one device you hoped it would be... 

The Reality

Back in the real world, most studios are not set up permanently for green screen shooting and a lot of chromakey productions take place on location with little or no artificial lighting. A lot of studios also have a modest lighting rig and their green screen fabric can look like it's straight out of my laundry basket. Most vision mixers will give you very average results with this typical setup.

Enter the DVK

We were really amazed when we did our first DVK-300HD demo in an exhibition centre with only two low cost LED lights. We were stunned at how easy it was to produce really great results in far from ideal conditions. So do take a look at the Datavideo DVK-300HD. It's a specialist piece of kit which keys brilliantly: superb edge definition and incredible fine detail - specially hair. The independent production companies, corporates, universities and videographers we've shown it to have been mighty impressed. 

It's less than £2,000 and is well worth the money.

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Nigel Cliff, Product Manager