Trade Tricks: Life With A Digital Projector
Show off your photos with a three-LCD projector
The old slideshow was a venerable tradition at my house while I was growing up, and I suspect it was part of many PCPhoto readers' youth as well. While the slide projector is rapidly disappearing, taking its place is the digital projector, with bundled computer and slideshow software. Digital slideshows can be done faster, far easier and with more production value, meaning better looking and with superior sound and effects.
Can a digital projector provide the same experience as working with a slide projector of the past? I can't give you an answer that covers every projector on the market, but let's take a look at the Epson PowerLite 737c Multimedia Projector, which I was given to use for a few months to see how it fit into my home and photographic life.
The Epson PowerLite 737c seemed like a good choice to try out the idea of living with a projector. It sells for about $1,599, and offers 2,000 lumens, which is excellent brightness for small- to moderate-sized rooms like those in a home or small business. The projector's resolution is XGA, or 1024 x 768, definitely a good resolution for photography. I used the PowerLite 737c for a variety of shows that I projected to nearly five feet wide onto a quality projection screen.
In addition, the projector uses three LCDs for its images, which offers potentially much higher color and tonal qualities than other projectors in its class. I was very impressed with the images, and my audiences' response was consistently "Wow!"
This is real world for me. If you get close to the screen, you can tell that the resolution of the projector might not quite match a true slide projector, but on the other hand, the images have such excellent color and image brilliance when viewed from normal distances that most people prefer it to a traditional slide projector. The images look great, my audiences are satisfied, and I can do effective slideshows. That's the bottom line for me.Did I like this projector? Absolutely. It made slideshows fun and they looked outstanding. One consistent problem with digital projectors is that they're rarely optimized for photography. The Epson PowerLite 737c, however, did an excellent job of interpreting the images going from my laptop to the screen. Plus, it does a terrific job with projecting video from any video source (from cable to a DVD player). My son loved the unit for sports events, and the whole family enjoyed it for our at-home movie night
Contact: Epson, (800) GO-EPSON, www.epson.com.
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