[sgotwr]

Hi all,
I have been asked by my local camera club to get a few quotes for digital projectors, they are hoping to buy one in the near future.
The problem is, I know nothing about projectors, they seem to vary greatly in price and spec.
Can anyone advise me on what spec I should be looking for, ( to hopefully project on to a screen as close to slide quality as possible), and what price range should I be looking at, and of course any recommendations if you have used one.

Thanks
Alwyn

[snap2photo]

Our club has standardised on projecting digital work at 1024x768. It is a requirement to submit the files that small. This seams to work well given the current level of technology (and funds). I think this is an AV standard too. These digital images compete surprisingly well with slides. If you try to project larger images then there can be a noticeable delay in displaying them. This can be awkward in competitions.

I think it is best not to get confused by the TVHD standards. I think these are too expensive and not relevant for photographs or Digital AVs. The res is usually only 720 high and they are wide screen. Also there can be the complication of "safe" areas. I would stick with projectors aimed at computer market. Avoid being convinced you need "HD ready" or an HDMI interface.

You probably do want DVI (Digital) and D-SUB (Analog) connections. You will probably get a composite connection thrown in.

Composite is no good for serious projection but is great for demos. The "TV" output from a camera can go into this and the audience can see a picture the lecturer has just taken. You can also point a still camera at a demonstration and see TV output on the projected screen.

If you are considering AVs you must also consider sound. It is probably best to use external 2.1 speakers connected to the PC. The sound on the projector is probably not going to be good enough. I think 5.1 is too fiddly to setup and stereo is still pretty much the standard for camera club digital AVs. A personal preference is to get the bigger and more solid versions of PC 2.1 speakers. There are some more miniature ones available but I’m not convinced they would fill a room with sound as well. Remember someone will have to carry the speakers. All else being equal I would pick up the boxed candidates in the shop and choose the ones that were the biggest/heaviest that I would still be prepared to carry comfortably to the car. If you would struggle to the car then you will have to struggle with them each week at the club. If you can comfortably carry the speakers and something else, like a lap top or projector, then your speakers are probably not big enough. Having said all that you will need to consider who is doing the carrying. If you want the most senior members of the club to be able to set stuff up then get the size of speakers that will be used. Technically good speaker sound rubbish if they are still in the boot of the car because the member of the club who drives the forklift has not turned up this week.

[sgotwr]

thanks for the reply snap2photo, one thing I was not sure about was the resolution, and I had not thought about the sound side of things
I will have to find out what exactly they want to do with the projector, whether they want to show audio visual presentations in the future or or just photo's.

Alwyn

[snap2photo]

Originally Posted by sgotwr

and I had not thought about the sound side of things :

You will need a laptop or PC too. Not being silly, you will have to always have access to it when you need to use the projector. It needs to be ready to go and setup. If you borrow one or it is used by a number of people it will always need tinckering with to get it back to a working state. Someone will have "upgraded" it or fiddled with the gamma. That type of thing. I've seen lectures given useing one of those mini PCs. You can use a standard mouse and keyboard. However you may want a screen to use other than the projector. If this is the case you need two video connections. The guys at our club put a lot of work into maintaining our laptop. They also have access to a emergency loaner that they put a lot of effort into keeping at the same level as the main PC.

[Dave Canon]

Alwyn, I have to go out right now but I look after the Digital Equipment for my local Club and now have some experience with this. I will try to post something later.

Dave

[Dave Canon]

Alwyn, the Club purchased an Acer PDP523D projector with a Laptop about two and a half years ago. We selected a PDP projector based on the advice at the time. Your Club may be affiliated to the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) who now offer guidance on using and selecting such equipment for competitions. At this time competitions are run at 1024 by 768 and the display software will normally assume a colour profile of sRGB.

The main choice for projectors is PDP or LCD. PDP are usually higher contrast and thus more suitable for still photographs. Using such projectors with laptop (or other computer) uncalibrated may be unsatisfactory for still photography and certainly for competition use. For the first 18 months we just used the projector for lectures and demos and it proved to be invaluable. However last season we moved to "projected Images" for one of our minor competitions and the experiment was considered successful though we did not have perfect calibration. We then decided to accept "Projected Images" for our main competition so had to calibrate.

Calibration of a PDP projector requires careful adjustment of brightness and contrast using a calibration chart then colour calibration using the Spyder 2 Pro (only the Pro can calibrate projectors). If you want more detail, I can supply it but by e mail.

Since we have calibrated, the quality of images compares well with conventional slides when viewed at the normal distance. You do need to operate in a fully darkened room to obtain the full contrast range as with slides.

Our projector is used so frequently now that we are considering buying another. If we do we will probably consider higher resolution. This is someting that you need to think about because, although the accepted standrad is currently 1024 by 768, I think that this may increase in the next 12 months so you may wish to consider this from the outset.

Other things to be aware of is that many clubs (including ours) obtained Lottery funding for their first projector/laptop. We also insure our digital equipment through the PAGB insurers. This covers the equipment whenever at the Club or with one of the members (including their homes). You need a good aluminium case for the Projector if you are going to regularly tranport it as we do. The Club has developed special software to organise and show our competitions. A number of clubs have done this so you may be able either buy such software or be given it for free. For simplicity initially, you can just use Windows Picture and Fax viewer.

I could provide much more detail on the various aspects of this, if you wish but I think it would be better by e-mail.

[sgotwr]

Hi,
thank you both for your very helpfull replies, the club will be meeting again Wednesday evening, I shall pass on to them all the information you have given me.
It is not as simple as I, or they thought
The club is trying for a lottery grant, thats why they wanted me to get quotes for a projector and laptop.

Alwyn

[Dave Canon]

Alwyn, following our Lottery success, I have given several local clubs tips on applying for a grant and they have also been successful in their applications. If eventually you would like some tips on this please e-mail because it will not be of broad interest.

Dave