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“Innovation” is a word that comes up a lot in the tech world—the latest artificial intelligence model, the latest smart device—but we rarely encounter anything truly innovative.
A few months ago I received an ad for a new product aimed at live streamers and digital filmmakers and I immediately knew I needed to try this product. it is really Innovative. A new take on a project that’s vital to most content creators – something I’ve never seen before.
That’s a green screen. I can now hear readers’ voices through my computer screen: “An innovative green screen? SUB2r active green screen – or AGS for short.
What is green screen?
Before we get into that, let’s get this out of the way: What is a green screen?
A green screen is essentially a large green background used to add digital effects or backgrounds in photography or video through a process called chroma key compositing. Green screens are primarily used in film production or photography studios. However, green screens are becoming increasingly popular among online content creators, live streamers, YouTubers, and even those who frequently conduct video calls or meetings through services such as Zoom.
While green screens help achieve incredible final products with advanced visual effects, the technology itself is fairly simple. Green screens are usually made from painted panels or colored fabrics. If someone really wanted to, they could DIY one. That’s all you need to create movie magic.
Well, that’s really not the case all you need to.
The main components of perfect chroma key (i.e. removing the green screen to insert a new background or effect) are light. You usually need at least two lights to properly light a green screen background. Once you have these lights, you need to know how to set up the lighting. If your green screen or subject is not fully lit, your final video product will look terrible. Green may bleed through and create a border around the subject. Shadows or other digital artifacts can appear and ruin your otherwise convincing effect or background.
SUB2r AGS Green Screen Price and Specs
So, we’ve explained in detail what a green screen is: a green panel or piece of fabric. How does SUB2r AGS innovate in this area?
Simply put: it solves complex green screen lighting problems. To my knowledge, no other green screen product can do this.
how? By building a lighting system inside the 5×7 foot green screen as a backlight, it ensures that the green screen remains perfectly illuminated at all times without the need for any other lights.
Mashable’s Matt Binder sits next to the 5×7 SUB2r AGS.
Image source: Mashable/Matt Binder
You can now purchase the SUB2r AGS directly from the SUB2r website for $549, with the following specs:
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5’x7′ size green screen
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Built-in lighting settings illuminate green screens
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Comes with stand and compact carrying case
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Remote control for changing lighting settings
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Power your SUB2r AGS lighting by plugging it directly into an outlet — Or take it with you and plug it into any USB battery pack
Now that you know about the SUB2r AGS, including its features and specs, let’s dive into my personal experience with it.
SUB2r AGS Green Screen: What I Like About It
So, does the SUB2r AGS deliver on its main selling point? Indeed.
Using the SUB2r AGS, I was able to key out the green screen perfectly without having to add any additional lighting to the green screen background itself. Even without lighting my subject (in this case me), the SUB2r AGS achieves a perfect chroma key effect. I can imagine that this capability could provide use cases for digital filmmakers, allowing them to achieve certain effects while shooting while still taking advantage of a perfectly lit green screen.
There is no problem with the subject’s shadow appearing on the screen. The backlight brings the subject very close to the green screen, much closer than any other green screen product can achieve. This is extremely helpful for YouTubers and other creators who may be working and recording in a very small home studio space.
Additionally, as a streamer, I use software that instantly cuts out green screens, which is generally not as accurate as the chroma key feature in dedicated post-editing software like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro.
Here is a visual example.
In the clip above, the SUB2r AGS is set up behind me. There are no lights set for the stream. The only lighting comes from room lighting, a single bulb in the ceiling. My live streaming program is set up to block green screens, but as you can see, with SUB2r AGS turned off, you can barely see the blue Mashable logo background.
However, when I turned on the SUB2r AGS, I got exactly what I wanted without having to set up any specific lighting for the shot.
This is what it looks like when the room is completely dark, no lights, and only my face is illuminated by the computer monitor:
As you can see, SUB2r AGS still achieves perfect chroma key. I haven’t come across any other green screen product on the market that accomplishes this.
The SUB2r AGS comes with a remote control that turns the light on and off, as well as adjusting the brightness level, allowing you to control how much the built-in light illuminates your green screen. Since the lighting is built in, I can try the green screen away from my desk where regular lighting is installed. It’s easy to see how guerrilla filmmakers and others who find themselves needing to use a green screen in places where they can’t install or use a full lighting setup can take advantage of this particular feature.
Speaking of portability, the built-in light on the SUB2r AGS can be powered by a USB battery pack, like the ones used to charge smartphones on the go. Likewise, a low-budget shoot might be able to use this green screen on set without having to lug around—and spend time setting up—an entire lighting kit.
Next, let’s focus on setup, which is an integral selling point for anchors in green screens. For example, the last truly innovative green screen product I encountered before the SUB2r AGS came from popular streaming products company Elgato. Elgato has created a foldable green screen that simply rolls up from the case when needed. The case also acts like a stand, so installation only takes seconds, and the green screen takes up minimal space for streaming from smaller rooms.
Most basic green screen kits that can be purchased on Amazon and elsewhere usually consist of a green fabric piece and a tripod-like stand. I’ve used these before. These green screens are usually suitable for larger studios as they have time to set up and then leave everything in as needed. However, for streamers with home studios, these green screen packages are a pain. They take up a lot of space, take some time to install, and then break.
As for the SUB2r, it opens and unfolds directly from the suitcase. From there, you just clip on the 8 batons. These are designed to keep the SUB2r AGS solid and allow some space between the green screen and the rows of lights built into the back of the green screen itself. Then snap the bracket on and the SUB2r AGS is ready to use. When I looked at the instructions, it sounded like a lot, but I was able to have the green screen on and ready to go in about 5 minutes.
Folding the SUB2r AGS is also fairly quick, although it does seem daunting at first as it requires multiple twists, turns and folds of the green screen to get it back into the rather small suitcase.
The SUB2r AGS is perfect for my closet-turned-home studio space.
Image source: Mashable/Matt Binder
SUB2r AGS Green Screen: What I don’t like about it
There’s only one thing I really don’t like about the SUB2r AGS: the price.
The SUB2r AGS is quite expensive, retailing for $649, but currently selling for $549 as of this writing.
When discussing pricing with SUB2r co-founder Richard Neumann, he acknowledged the issue and said the company hopes to lower the price in future iterations. SUB2r is a fairly small but up-and-coming streaming accessories company. As a result, they cost more to make than the company would like. SUB2r is currently developing two streaming cameras, but aside from a few mounting accessories, the SUB2r AGS is the company’s main product right now.
Looking online, it seems you can find prosumer grade green screen kits complete with lighting ranging from $350 to $650. So, considering the lighting costs you’ll save and the convenience the SUB2r AGS brings, the $549 price tag is more reasonable. That being said, these kits are more geared toward photography studios or independent filmmakers, so the price of the SUB2r AGS may still be out of the range of many streamers and YouTubers.
As a streamer, the SUB2r AGS has another glaring problem: its innovative competitor, the aforementioned Elgato foldable green screen. The Elgato Green Screen sells for about $160 and is clearly positioned as an entirely different product. But as a consumer, if I need a green screen, I would choose these two products. You can’t help but compare the two.
Side view of the SUB2r green screen.
Image source: Mashable/Matt Binder
SUB2r AGS has many advantages for filmmaking and photography, but streaming often requires as fast a setup and breakdown as possible. The Elgato Green Screen only requires the user to lift the handle to unfold the green screen from the housing. The SUB2r AGS is fast to set up, but the Elgato screen is much faster.
Many streamers are also constantly dealing with space issues and need their setups to take up as little space as possible. The SUB2r AGS adds about 10 inches of depth to the green screen, making the product look a bit like an oversized softbox to provide space for built-in lighting. This depth also helps act as a stand, so the SUB2r AGS actually ends up requiring less space than most other green screen setups that use a tripod. However, the Elgato Green Screen beats all of that, with a casing that also doubles as a stand.
Is SUB2r AGS worth it?
SUB2r AGS has tried something new and different with its products, which traditionally consist of a green board or piece of fabric. It knocked it out of the park. It just works.
Live streamers and small creators should certainly consider SUB2r AGS if it’s within their price range. The choice between this and the Elgato green screen will depend on what’s more important to you: the SUB2r AGS’s built-in lighting or the Elgato’s compactness.
If you’re a photographer, filmmaker, or even a long-form YouTube creator, SUB2r AGS can be a very useful production tool for creating any type of content that requires different backgrounds or special effects.
No matter what decision you make about AGS now, based on the uniqueness of its green screen, I think SUB2r is undoubtedly a company worth watching in the field of live streaming and video content creation.
