Projector brightness

mikeanywhere

I am looking to get a projector in the future and wanted to get some opinions as to what power bulb is regarded as crap and god etc??

jmal

Hi Mike,

What do you mean by power bulb? Are you talking about brightness.

If so then what will the projector be used for, HT, Business etc?

johnnyflav

How bright you need the projector depends on what and where you're using it.

Most home cinema projector these days are very capable in normal home viewing situations. Don't expect any projector to work well in daytime conditions, they're at their best in dark rooms with as little re-reflected light as possible.

mikeanywhere

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the delay in replying. It will be used as part of my photography business to showcase pictures from an event or to pros[ective clients when they come to see me.

I was also referring to lumens (sp??) as I am conscious of the cost of replacing bulbs etc.

Use would be often but not major use if you get the idea!!

Thanks again

Mike

johnnyflav

You're better off looking at a business projector, these have a better lumen output than a home cinema projector. The contrast might not be as good on these as a dedicated home cinema projector and they wouldn't work well with moving images.

One point to note is that the lamp life of these projectors (well home cinema ones anyway) is commonly based on the number of strikes on a bulb, a strike being every time you turn on the PJ. Mutliply this by 2 for the rated hours for the bulb. So a 3,000 hour bulb would expect to be struck 1,500 times and left on for ~2hours each time.

mikeanywhere

Thanks Johnny, very helpful!!

jmal

Hi Mike,

I'd imagine if your setting up a projector for use as part of a professional photography business, image quality is going to be paramount in order to demonstrate the professional quality of your photography then a business projector is not going to cut the mustard. Most business projectors are XGA resolution, colour reproduction is never very good and contrast always suffers. There designed for boardroom screens where image quality is not very important.

My suggestion would be as follows.

If budget is not a major factor, then I would look at Optoma HD81LV. This projector has 2500 lumens, an amazing 10,000:1 contrast for its brightness and is DLP® DarkChip3 giving amazing colour reproduction. This projector would amaze any audience even is a well lit room.

If budget is a factor then I would steer towards the Optoma HD71. This is a new projector soon to be released over here and supports 2400 lumens, 720p and 4000:1 contrast. Not the power house of the HD81LV but still a very good solution for your requirments.


Another aspect to keep in mind is the screen. Using a wall will be fine, but to get the real professional finish to the setup and the ful benifit fro these two projectors then I would steer towards a fixed frame screen. Again if budget isnt a driving factor then one of the new Day-light viewable optical front projection screens would make for an amazing addition to both of the above projectors.

HTH:)