Theater dad looking for projector selection assistance

Lasermike

Well-Known Member
Our next show is Newsies Jr, the director would like to try projection with this show. This will be in the space mentioned here. It's a 65ish foot across the center dodecagon or 12 sided room. The entire stage and house is in this space so it's not terribly big.

Based on what she read at Broadway Media, the source of the files they'd like to project, we need a minimum of 5K lumens. She was told that it would be about 20K to buy, I don't remember the rental cost. Based on that I went, of course, to Amazon which led down a rabbit hole. I eventually found the Veiwsonic LS921WU, an installation rated 6K lumen short throw projector for $4000 at B&H Photo. She mentioned that she we may have a sponsor to help defray costs. I am not married to the Viewsonic brand, I just stopped looking when I found a brand I recognized.

The calculator at Projector Central says we would see about FL of 33 at an image size of 205" by 128" with the projector at 14'-6" from the screen. I doubt we will see that much it's a painted wall rather than an actual screen. The wall is actually nearer to 30' wide and 13' tall, there's no way a 16:9 will fit that without looking quite odd so I've scaled down her expectations to something I hope can actually be done. The question is will this even be visible? I've no concept of what a single FL looks like let alone 33 of them. I'm thinking it would work if we set the scene with the lights low then fade into the background as the lights come up. If it won't work as she'd like, I think she will rent something. Which means I'd need a recommendation for a rental.

Michael
 
If you aren’t shooting on a screen then you won’t see much. Rent a 12k from your local production house. Send them whatever information you have and they will tell you if you need more than 12.
 
I recently bought 2 epson 6500 lumen projectors on ebay.. if you watch they come up frequently in the 400-600 buck range. About a $125 replacement bulb for insurance (the cheapie may be dimmer)
The epsons are stackable.. We did elf with one.. proof of concept.. but will do Oz this summer with 2 stacked for about 13000 lumens. If you want to do the legwork this might be the route to go. For the cost of a rental you can have your own.. The other advantage over a rental is lead time/ play time. You can have weeks in advance to figure things out, rather than bringing in the rental and trying to make it work in crunch time. I am projecting about a 24 foot wide image about 12 feet high more or less in a 600 seat house. Had to manage spill for elf, but early indications are with them stacked though the initial perceived brightness isn't that much more dazzling, the spill management will be much easier. I'm shooting to a white cyc, but can upload examples on a painted wall later when I"m home.
 
The brick wall is painted. The gold building is projected. 6500 lumens shot from 25 or 30 feet. 400 buck used Epson
495759F8-8801-4522-A801-2E35D30399A2.jpeg
 
Thank you for the input.
I don’t know all of the details yet but apparently we have a very good relationship with a school that had some unused funding. They are buying a 10k lumen projector and plan to let us use it.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

Michael
 
Erm, I'm not sure they understood what the goal was.
Yes it's a projector and yes it says 10000 lumens in the listing but I have my doubts.

It does actually fill a lage portion of the back wall and it can be seen with all lighting at 30% as a random test of light levels. Is it 10K? Nope. Can you adjust the keystone? Yes, but not if you want the top and bottom of the image to be even remotely in focus. Will it do for now? Yes. I'm thinking we will be writing equipment grants and saving our pennies for the real thing. I am glad we didn't pick this out ourselves.
 
That’s a shame that’s what they decided on. It sucks when the powers that be go with a home solution to solve an AV solution.
 
Erm, I'm not sure they understood what the goal was.
Yes it's a projector and yes it says 10000 lumens in the listing but I have my doubts.

It does actually fill a lage portion of the back wall and it can be seen with all lighting at 30% as a random test of light levels. Is it 10K? Nope. Can you adjust the keystone? Yes, but not if you want the top and bottom of the image to be even remotely in focus. Will it do for now? Yes. I'm thinking we will be writing equipment grants and saving our pennies for the real thing. I am glad we didn't pick this out ourselves.

Actually, looking closer, it says 10000 Lux... so that may be technical true (assumedly specifically on their 100" screen), but is rather deceptive.
 
Those cheap LED projectors are VERY dim. I have one I got to play with.. Only the big boys/mainstream give you the straight dope on the lumens. If they have a return policy, try to have them send it back without unboxing I have one that I bought to test for home, and we can watch movies in a totally dark room.. Mine was a generation or so back from that one.. but it doesn't even begin to approach the brightness of my viewsonic 2000 lumen.. maybe 1/3 the brightness. And for 500 bucks you coulda had the picture I showed above..
 
Reading the Amazon listing closely, it says both 10K lux and 10K lumens. Here's a telling stat, it draws 64 watts total. The ls921wu I mentioned above draws 450 total. And it's rated at 6K lumens. The 2 light sources draw 74 watts each. Hmm...

Michael
 
Reading the Amazon listing closely, it says both 10K lux and 10K lumens. Here's a telling stat, it draws 64 watts total. The ls921wu I mentioned above draws 450 total. And it's rated at 6K lumens. The 2 light sources draw 74 watts each. Hmm...

Michael
Amazon products lie. Nobody is controlling the items advertisements. This goes for the reviews as well. Assume any electronic on there that isn’t name brand is listing a lie and won’t be found in 6 months when they change their name and list the same product under a new type of projector saying it’s a 12k.
 
Reading the Amazon listing closely, it says both 10K lux and 10K lumens. Here's a telling stat, it draws 64 watts total. The ls921wu I mentioned above draws 450 total. And it's rated at 6K lumens. The 2 light sources draw 74 watts each. Hmm...

Michael
It also says 100k lumens further down. And in the "us vs them" picture they show the conpetitor dim with 80k lumens and them bright with 10k... Zeros seem to be flexible
 
I haven’t trusted Amazon listings in a long time.
Current plot twist, a coworker asked if I needed a projector. He as loaned me a Christie LWU420. “It needs a lamp” says he. A lamp is on the way. Since the little baby projector produced a barely visible and usable image, I’m thinking this beast might be even better. 😉
Michael
 
Misleading claims are not new, unfortunately. Epson started to take a stand on this.
 
Here is the Christie making a mockery of the "10,000 lumen" Fundui from Amazon. This is from the booth (probably 55' booth to wall) with the house and work lights on. 250 watts each lamp and I think there are 6 or 7 working as of this pic. We think a breaker is tripped, taking out a set of 4. Now to convince my coworker he won't need it back. That's my son in the professor's sport coat on the left. You can also see 2 of the 3 sections of stage that will drop down flush with the main floor area at the touch of a button. Sadly, they won't let me touch the button ;)

Michael

IMG_8802.JPG
 
As I said before.. should watch for some of the epsons on the used market. I picked up 2 6500 lumen units this year for less then 500 bucks each
Just "stacked" them for the first time.. they will project a grid pattern for alignment, so now I am projecting the image on itself for double the output.

The other nice thing about the epsons is that across the board, they seem to have the most economical replacement bulbs of the brands I checked.
I stuck with the OEM bulb though.. all the reviews say they are brighter than some of the generic replacements. Have yet to have to replace and am 2 shows in (Elf and Rent)

Also if you want a dmx dowser.. look to Jerry's electronics.. He'll fix you up with one either dmx or simple remote.. just north of 200 bucks. I now have 2 of them .
 
I'm into this projector the cost of a lamp and may not have to return it to it's rightful owner anytime soon or maybe even ever. I will keep in mind the used market, I'm an electronics tech who restores old radios and ham gear for fun so used gear doesn't bother me too much. This particular projector has a black mode. I don't know if it's a physical barrier or it just turns the LCD off but it seems to be a true blackout with no light escaping from the lens.
 
Erm, I'm not sure they understood what the goal was.
Yes it's a projector and yes it says 10000 lumens in the listing but I have my doubts.

It does actually fill a lage portion of the back wall and it can be seen with all lighting at 30% as a random test of light levels. Is it 10K? Nope. Can you adjust the keystone? Yes, but not if you want the top and bottom of the image to be even remotely in focus. Will it do for now? Yes. I'm thinking we will be writing equipment grants and saving our pennies for the real thing. I am glad we didn't pick this out ourselves.
ugh - hope they are still in business next week. waste ...
 
I recently bought 2 epson 6500 lumen projectors on ebay.. if you watch they come up frequently in the 400-600 buck range. About a $125 replacement bulb for insurance (the cheapie may be dimmer)
The epsons are stackable.. We did elf with one.. proof of concept.. but will do Oz this summer with 2 stacked for about 13000 lumens. If you want to do the legwork this might be the route to go. For the cost of a rental you can have your own.. The other advantage over a rental is lead time/ play time. You can have weeks in advance to figure things out, rather than bringing in the rental and trying to make it work in crunch time. I am projecting about a 24 foot wide image about 12 feet high more or less in a 600 seat house. Had to manage spill for elf, but early indications are with them stacked though the initial perceived brightness isn't that much more dazzling, the spill management will be much easier. I'm shooting to a white cyc, but can upload examples on a painted wall later when I"m home.
Can you share the Epson model? And also what is the through for those pics? This looks like exactly what I'm interested in doing...
 

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