Bought a cheap green screen kit off Amazon - huge regret

Honestly, I spent like $30 on this foldable green screen from a random brand, figured it'd be fine for my YouTube videos. Set it up last Saturday and the fabric was so wrinkly and thin, the lighting from my cheap LEDs made it look like a swamp. Tried to key it out in DaVinci Resolve and it took me 4 hours with zero luck, just a mess of green spill. Anyone else get burned by a budget backdrop and have a decent fix that doesn't cost more than the kit?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamhenderson5d ago

Man, you hit on something I see all the time. People go cheap on gear and then wonder why it's a nightmare to use. It's like the whole "buy nice or buy twice" thing but for video stuff. The real fix is just get a solid piece of green fabric from a craft store, like muslin or something, and clip it to a frame. Way less wrinkles and the color is way more consistent than those flimsy Amazon kits. Seems like every time I try to save a few bucks on something, it ends up costing me more time and frustration in the long run.

marybutler5d ago

Oh man, @williamhenderson, I gotta push back a little here. In my experience, those cheap Amazon kits actually work fine for most folks starting out. The green screens with the metal frame and the little clamp system? Yeah, they wrinkle like crazy, but you can steam 'em out in five minutes with a garment steamer from Goodwill. That whole "buy nice or buy twice" thing falls apart when you realize someone's first green screen is for a school project or a one-off Zoom background. Spend $20 on a kit, use it twice, and you're done. A $60 piece of muslin and PVC pipe frame? That's overkill for someone who isn't doing weekly chroma key work. Sure, if you're making a full YouTube channel, invest in the good stuff. But for the average person, those flimsy kits are honestly fine for the price. Your mileage may vary, of course.

brooke_taylor445d ago

Yeah @williamhenderson, that's exactly it. I bought one of those cheap Amazon kits and spent more time steaming wrinkles than actually filming. Finally just grabbed some fabric from Joann's and it's night and day.