Small video projector for photographic stills?

[Tom Baldwin]

My brother-in-law's asked me to help him find a video projector for use in his wedding photography.

 

Having photographed the wedding, he attends the evening reception and displays a selection of the photos for the guests to look at (and buy CDs of).

He's become dissatisified with the image quality of his (15-year-old) current projector, especially with regards to colour accuracy, and so is looking for a replacement.

 

_Requirements_

budget: < £1000

brightness: his current unit is 1000 lumens, which seems to be adequate for his purposes

resolution: since this is for photographic display, he's keen to get as many pixels as possible

projection distance: normally short-ish (~2m), always front projection

input: HDMI (source is a laptop)

colour: accurate! Photos are mostly colour, some B&W. I don't know enough to recommend LCD or DLP to him in this regard.

 

He's only ever showing photographs, never moving images.

 

I realise this is fairly low-end compared to a lot of what TBR covers, but he would like the best image quality available to him, and there are very few options for viewing projectors in action before purchase.

 

 

We have discussed using monitors in various configurations, but manual handling and transport issues make a single large monitor impractical for him.

I still think a number of multiple smaller monitors, each with a local player, and arranged in the style of a gallery could work, but he doesn't seem keen on that option.

 

 

Any suggestions welcome,

 

Tom

[david.elsbury]

What is he using as a screen surface? This will have quite an impact on the quality, and brightness of the images.

 

David

[Tom Baldwin]

He's using a projector screen from Jessops - I'm sure there are better surfaces out there, but at least he's not picking up a colour cast from an off-white hotel wall.

 

The concern about colour was that the colours were often washed out and inaccurate - when viewed on the laptop screen he was feeding the projector with, they were much closer to real. And of course, with everyone in the same clothes in the evening as when the photos were taken, comparisons are rather easy!

[plinque]

We have a bunch of 3,000 lumen NEC v300W projectors which are 1280 x 760 px. These are punchy and I've used them on 120" screens (work OK as long as the lighting can be controlled). Colour is not super accurate, but they're nice and bright and the projector has various colour profiles / temps to choose from. They're not particularly painful to set up which is always a good thing.

However your friend may be better off looking at a home theatre projector. These typically output HD, but at with much lower brightness and reduced contrast. This can give a more natural look, but they need to be used in dark rooms... I've heard that JVC have a good rep in this market.