Need Projector Advice

Juriaan

What are your light conditions in the space ? Do you need a beamer that work against theater light for example ?

ray

Thanks for your post. Will use it in a gallery so the lighting will be controlled, that’s no problem. Need to project straight down onto the floor so I think I’ll need an lcd projector.

mark_m

@ray said:

@Juriaan
Thanks for your post. Will use it in a gallery so the lighting will be controlled, that’s no problem. Need to project straight down onto the floor so I think I’ll need an lcd projector.

Just as an aside, you may not need a laser / LCD projector: many projectors will project straight down. It's all about the angle of the filament in the bulb. So long as you rotate it about the axis so that the filament stays in the same orientation as when the projector is flat you'll be fine. What many projectors will not do is sit on their side, ie project portrait rather than landscape.
Of course a laser projector will be quieter and cooler, but if you're on a budget...

ray

@mark_m

I'm sorry but I don't understand your post. Can you give some more info or links to find out what this means?

mark_m

@ray

Imagine your old school incandescent light bulb: there's a coil of wire - the filament - strung between two metal bits. Imagine you're holding the stem of the bulb in your fist so that the coil is parallel to the ground and parallel to your chest. If you tilt your hand forwards or backwards the coil stays parallel to the ground, but if you rotate your fist clockwise or counterclockwise 90 degrees the coil is now perpendicular to the ground.

This is a vast generalisation, but older projectors use bulbs much like that old school incandescent bulb. The filament is often orientated parallel to the lens of the projector, and hence parallel to the ground when the projector is flat on a table. This means that you can tilt your projector up or down, and the filament stays parallel to the ground. And generally projectors are happy with the filament parallel to the ground and unhappy with the filament perpendicular to the ground. However, YMMV: cooling also comes into it, and you also have to consider how your projector takes the heat away from the bulb, and whether that will still work when the projector is pointing up or down. Manufacturers sometime say what orientation you can use their projectors in.

Hope this makes sense!

ray

Does anyone have experience projecting directly down onto a stage floor?

mark_m

@ray

Yes, this is what I'm doing all the time, using non-LED/Laser projectors with the method described above.

ray

@mark_m

what projectors are you using?

mark_m

@ray

Since you asked, I have a collection of discontinued projectors by a Norwegian company called Projection Design. In the USA I think they were sold under the Digital Projection brand. They were bought out by Barco / Christie and amalgamated into their range.
They have interchangeable lenses and the replacement bulbs are cheap. I have six 6,500 lumen F32 SX+ models, and a few others for spare parts
They're readily available secondhand.

However, they're a bit outdated now. And they're big.

If I were you, Ray, I'd get in touch with your local friendly neighbourhood projector retailer, tell them what you want to achieve and what your budget it, and let them solve the problem for you.

ray

@mark_m

as far as the friendly neighborhood projector retailer goes, I don't like troubling people when I know I won't be purchasing from them.