Terry White's Tech Blog

I’ve been wanting to experiment with Green Screen video and photography for a long time now. However, I just never felt comfortable buying a green screen system because I didn’t want to get the wrong thing. Also I didn’t want to invest hundreds if not thousands of dollars in getting the professional lighting that I figured you would need to get good results. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would be able to get professional results (yes your opinion will vary) for only $199!

The Westcott uLite 2 Light Photo Kit

Although Westcott targets this kit at enthusiasts, I think they are selling themselves a little short. Sure the digital video pros would probably argue with me and well that’s OK, I’m used to it, but with what you get in this kit, you CAN produce some pretty decent quality projects.

The Westcott uLite kit includes:

• 2 500W Photo Flood Lights
• 2 Small 20" Softboxes
• 2 Light Stands
• 1 9’x10′ Green Screen
• 1 instructional DVD to learn to setup the system and post production tips/techniques
• 1 disc of royalty free backgrounds

I’m glad I watched the DVD first to get some pointers on light placement. Setup on took a few minutes and I was ready to shoot. I did run into one problem though. One of the bulbs in my kit may have been damaged in shipping. I screwed it in and fired up the light and it came on for about 10 seconds before going out. I confirmed that it was the bulb and not the light. While I’m sure the good folks at Westcott would gladly send me a new bulb, I wanted to proceed with my demo. So I used one of the bulbs from my TD5 Spiderlite. The only problem here is that the bulb I used was only 50W and no where near as bright as the other bulb. The purpose of having TWO lights is so that the subject is lit evenly on both sides and to eliminate shadows. I played around with light placement and did the best I could. However, you’ll notice that I’m brighter on the left side than I am on the right side.

Here’s my first attempt at using the kit (editing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and the keying was done in Adobe After Effects CS4 using Keylight via Dynamic Link):

The Bottom Line

If you’ve been wanting to experiment with Green Screen video or photography, this is a great starter kit! For the price you just can’t beat it! I was a little disappointed that there was no support system included for the green screen, however for $199 I think you’re getting a great value. While the screen can be hung easily from a wall, clothes line, etc. I still recommend a support stand. Although your bulbs will probably work right out of the box, I did notice that the bulbs are only rated for 60 hours. So I would recommend ordering some extra ones right off the bat.

B&H Photo sells the Westcott uLite 2 Light Kit for $199.95.

I would also recommend getting this free standing support system for it and a few extra bulbs.

If you’re a NAPP member, check out Dave Cross’ tutorial on automating the process of extracting still images from a green screen background.