Help Me Choose A Projector

[Airedale1]

If this is the wrong section for this query please move it.:confused:

I will soon be showing my work at my local Audubon. All of the images will be of birds. I will have images framed and hanging. I will have one night there when I will show more of my work off, via a digital projector.

The problem is I don't own one yet. So, hopefully you can help me choose one that will fit the bill. The room will be dark and I will have access to a screen. Do I need 1080p or will 720p be sufficent? How many lumens? I know virtually nothing about digital projectors.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Woolburr]

Are you looking to buy or to rent? Many of the lens rental places are starting to carry projectors for rent as well. In fact, there is actually a rental place here in town that carries projectors for just this type of situation. You might want to give the local yellow pages a quick shot unless you convinced you want to buy.

[Airedale1]

Thanks for the reply Dan. I wish to buy it and really have so many questions, resolution, contrast ratio, aspect ratio. will I need a laptop? Lots of questions and no clue.:(

[Woolburr]

The only ones I am familiar with are the ones we have for our local camera club...one requires a laptop, but we also have an Epson....that you can burn a cd or dvd to display from or you can connect a computer as well. Beyond that, I haven't really gotten into the specifics of the units...good luck in your quest.

[Airedale1]

Burning a DVD with all the images in a slideshow format would be the way I would go. So, just knowing that some machines allow that is help, thank you.

[Woolburr]

I know the one that takes dvd's is an Epson.....I'll see if I can find the model info on it....it does work very well in a semi-darkened room....struggles if there is a lot of light.

It is an Epson MovieMate 33 .

[Zepher]

You want one with a high contrast ratio and good lumen rating. Panasonic makes a couple of really nice ones between $1000 and $2000.

you will want to play the slideshow off of a laptop vs a DVD as you will get a much sharper and cleaner picture.