OT - chroma key "light rings"

just wondered if anyone out there had used any of those "light ring" rigs from companies like Reflecmedia? does it really help, and if so, how much of a diff does it make?

From what I have seen at demos, it is good for pulling a LIVE KEY, but you cannot beat the many good post solutions for keying, like Shake or AE or the DV Garage plugins.

I like them because I can layer in atmosphere, or reflections. Make it more believable.


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Wayne,

The material for the backdrop is pretty expensive also, or it used to to be. One problem others were having also was the fit for the lens. The diameter of the rings didn't work well on some lens barrels. At one time there was a source for the backdrop material other than Reflect, and it was much cheaper. though still more expensive than foam backed or lyrca Green/blue screen.

I haven't ever used one. It came out first and was directly connected/sold thru Play Inc's Trinity system first I believe (it used a different name then), which does have a live keyer/switcher. The people using Newteks system can find uses for it. The big deal is you don't have to light the background screen evenly.

Several of the people from "Play" like Karl Soule became/formed "Serious Magic". Which was just purchased by Adobe. They had some tools for easier keying also etc. But they just make stuff for Windoze, and they use a dongle system, yeeck,

I see the light rings on ebay occasionally and on some forums like the Globcaster forum which is the old Play inc Trinity Forum, which used to be Trinity Central, which was a user based forum, before Play secretly purchased it to shut up owners that were totally dissatisfied with the Trinity system especially the NLE the TimeMachine.

Play was the exclusive dealer in the US as far as I could tell, until they went under and then Reflect brand was around (before you had to purchase overseas in England I believe). Personally, any company that had anything to do with Play Inc. without going into detail, I would stay away from.

The key is the material, not the ring. The ring is just colored diodes LEDS, its the material that makes it work. A couple of guys on the Trinity forum said they made there own ring and it worked okay. The trick is mounting the diodes so that the light is even all aound the lens etc. This was a problem with the Factory units and why the fit of the lens barrel is important.

Hi:

If I may contribute, we own three of the ReflecMedia systems.

They are flawlessly easy to use. All you need is a an adaptor step up ring, I use an 82 to 105mm one on the HVX-200. You must be careful with the screens, if you mess them up with makeup powder or something weird, they are outrageously expensive to replace as compared to the cost of an entire new system. We did a full series of exposure tests and keying tests and the ReflecMedia works best with the control box for the LED ringlight on "8".

Great keying, easy to use and fun to work with.

Highly recommended. The only caveats are forget using it with teleprompters and the green ringlight you see in the glasses reflections of your talent will key out easily with what ever you are using as your BG element, it ends up actually making a miniature of the BG element which sells as a reflection.

I would not want to give my ReflecMedia systems up, they are a Godsend.

Best,

Dan