Washington DC

March 2006


The March 16 meeting took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Silver Spring, MD, where about 25 SMPTE members and guests heard a presentation by Wayne Schulman, National Sales Manager for Bogen Imaging Video Products, titled: Camera Systems for Special Video Effects - Enhancing Your Video: DV, HDV and HD.

The main part of the presentation comprised an explanation and demonstration of the Chromatte and LiteRing light source for enhanced chromakey applications, produced by ReflecMedia in the U.K. The LiteRing is on-camera light source comprising a ring of blue or green LEDs that surround the camera lens. Wayne explained that Chromatte is a highly direction reflective material coated with microscopically small glass beads, originally developed for the BBC in England. In operation, the Chromatte material reflects the blue or green light straight back to the lens and the camera sees a perfectly even blue or green background that is ideal for keying.  Due to the number of glass beads within the fabric, the camera and LiteRing are free to move and can work at acute angles to the Chromatte. He showed that, in the extreme, the fabric can be screwed into a ball and still produce a usable key signal. The demonstration used a new DV keyer, developed in cooperation with Ultimatte, to improve blue and green screen capabilities for smaller budget productions in studios and remote locations. Overall, the system produces composite pictures with natural-looking backgrounds and no evidence of unwanted foreground color or edge artifacts.

The presentation included information on a range of new HD/DV soft effect filters with an outline of the general process for making high quality glass filters in squares and rounds and concluded with a question and answer session. There was also a general display of tripods, lighting stands, soft cases, and reflectors available for inspection before and after the formal presentation.

Many thanks to Bogen Imaging, and their local dealer CTL, for their hospitality at the hotel and for the excellent refreshments.

-Graham Jones, Section Manager and Program Chair



Wayne Schulman, Bogen Imaging, speaking to the Washington DC section meeting