Advice for projecting onto a BP Cyc at 10x6m

[thepurser]

Greetings all,

I work for a community theatre and we produce a lot of shows for local Dance Schools.

We are often asked about projection and have used it in the past.

Everything from our small meeting room projectors to hired Barco units the size of a large fridge.

Generally we project onto a flown screen for awards ceremonies etc but dance schools are increasingly wanting us to project onto our BP cyc.

Sadly although manfully giving it a go our little workhorse cannot fill the cyc which is a 10m x roughly 6m opening even from our bar 3 at approximately 9M away.

We even considered looking at a rear projection system to offer mre flexibility but as we only have about 2.5M clearance behind it would take an enormous amount of short throw projectors comined and blended to cope.

So, what would you suggest as a good compromise in order to provide a decent clarity and quality at that size, (or slightly smaller but not too much)?

 

General use would be for behind dancers on stage with a light amount of haze still hanging, (sadly) from the previous numbers.

We can control lighting so as not to hit the Cyc but there will generally be stage lighting from overhead, out front and possibly side booms.

Projection from the circle although very effective suffers from clipping across the dancers so is not really te effect most hirers are after.

 

So, One reasonably powerful projector?

Two or three blended?

 

Looking for ideas and price ranges.

 

Doubt we could ever afford to purchase a system although if one were affordable and would pay back over a few years with hires it would be an optin.

Generally the schools would look to hire with a budget up to around the £2k mark for a week.

 

Over to you guys and gals.

[AHYoung]

blending isnt something you do unless you have too, and since you effectively have a screen ratio somewhere almost exactly 16:10 ratio, use a single 16:10 projector.

 

id advise that you should look at the panasonic 7ks - ie the dz770 and the dw740. these are pretty much the industry standard and should be bright enough. Id advise that you buy a unit with a standard 1.8~ 2.4 lens as the lens costs next to nothing and cant be bought on its own, and also but either a wide zoom. DLE 150 {1.3 ~1.8:} or the magical DLE 080 {0.8~1.1:1} which is as wide as you get, has fine focus and full lens shift. with the DLE 080 you can do the magical 10m from 9m away . Its also worh drawing the triangles to see just how little shadowing you get with that wide a lens even projecting floor to ceiling., you loose the strip up stage hard up against the screen even the a head in the beam throws a shadow practically at floor level, but as you can use practically all the stage, its almost like rear projection.

 

 

A lot of what we do is selling projectors to theatres and id go for the above solution every time untill you decide you have a lot more than 10k to spend... if you do is suggest you look at the Panasonic PT DW17k which is a triple chip dlp and produces 16000 lumens. combine this with a 0.9~1.1 lens and you can almost almost fill the screen from 9m. If you have the cash , the DZ21ks give 20000 lumens at HD and will do everything you will ever need, we have just bough a couple and they are expensive, but you can see where your money went...

 

 

By going for an established platform, you will find lenses easy to get hold of as you wont allways be doing the same thing every time. 10m may sound ambitious with a 7k, but just done a job with the dz770s projecting 17m wide onto very rough dark stonework and they were more than adaquate. my advice is get a demo off someone who can back up a good story with the actualy equipment they are suggesting as the only way to know it works is to test it.

[dbini]

good advice from mr Young. the panasonics are good for what you're trying to do. particularly if you can get a 0.8 lens. they can be hired for a lot less than £2k a week, but still a hefty amount.

 

I have an Optoma EW610ST short throw LCD projector which I just toured in a dance show. its tiny, but kicks out 3100lumens and has a 0.5 lens. I was filling a cyc 8m wide, from 4m away so that's probably the best solution in terms of angles and reducing shadow from dancers. its not that bright though and you have to push its settings to the maximum to get a decent image. depends what you're projecting. I'm sure it will go to 10m wide, but the dropoff in brightness might not be worth it. if you shop around you can get one for around £550 new. so that's a budget option.

 

have a look at this video: the projection onto the floor is a panasonic 7k with a 0.8 lens, the cyc is done with the optoma.

[thepurser]

Thanks for the replies.

We are just looking at options at the moment to see what would be the best way for us to provide a better service.

Had a look at the Panasonics. Seem great from a hire perspective but a little steep for us to purchase. We'd have to look at how we could "encourage" more people to use them in order to ensure a decent payback period!!

Mr Young: How would you rate the 6k to 6.5k panasonics against their bigger brother? They seem to be a lot cheaper to purchase and probably nearer to a justifiable budget should we go down that route.

 

Dbini: Thanks for the link. Food for thought indeed!! Think the optoma would be a little too dark for a full cyc projection in house here. The main issue with keep improving your service is that expectations grow!! Still it keeps us on our toes!? Floor looks god though!!!!

[AHYoung]

got 6 of the optoma units ourselves and they are great for what they are with a fairly unique throw ratio.however that are only small and id not really suggest them above 4 - 5m, as you pretty quickly have to decide if you want visible video or stage lighting and some people want both.

 

The 6000 series panasonics are good units and currently well priced, but I wouldnt suggest them as the new units are effectively the same chassis with 4 years more developement. you are possibly in a situation where you need every bit of light, so id suggest 7k as a minimum, however its all relative and youd have to try it out. I also know numerous theatres still using the panasonic dlp units we supplied years ago where they have just been workhorses, I also know that they are the only units in our stock never to have had warranty issues...

 

Id suggest you look at a purchase as it more cost effective than numerous short hires, and you will see a return well within the units lifespan, but if you are looking at 2k a week as ahire, you will be looking at units twice the size, or a lot of change.

 

 

We hire and sell and would be happy to assist you with either, as im sure would others.