Pico Projectors

Hardware
1

Hey there,

I’m new to doing visuals and usually just use venue projectors through the VGA hookups they have lying around but I’m looking to try more projection mapping as well as some cool Lumarca type setups and have been looking for a projector to use at home for testing and trying different things and in some smaller venues that don’t have projectors. Been looking around on the forums for advice but there wasn’t much.

From what I’ve seen some of the better Pico projectors might be a good match for my needs. The ones I was looking at are the:

Optoma PK320:
optoma.co.uk/picoconsumer.as … ypeDB=Pico

AAXA P4:
aaxatech.com/products/p4_pico_projector.htm

They run off battery and both have about 100+ lumens.

Thoughts? Would it be better to grab a micro projector that uses power instead of battery?

Thanks!

2

I would not recommend any pico/micro projectors, their output is too low to use in anywhere but a completely dark room, and your are paying for the miniaturization. Those picos are going for around $300, if you do a search for “projector” on amazon.com you will see there are a bunch of real projectors available for the same price point if you are just looking for something to test with.

3

Thanks for the reply, and sorry about the delay (been switching from Mac over to Windows for Touch designer and had a hdd failure along the way!).

I was able to borrow a buddies normal sized projector, and noticed that even with its power (I think about 1500 or so lumens), it takes a relatively dark room to get very clear pictures, which is what you are saying. Thanks for the input, will just save up and get a regular sized projector for experimenting at home and then rent more powerful ones depending on the venue size. I’ve read it’s almost more cost effective to rent and have someone else foot the maintenance bills, as opposed to have your really expensive projector thrashed around constantly.

4

I use an Optima pk 320 in my bedroom for my experimental lab. Here are some demo videos using a scale model:
KANTAN - youtu.be/uPekVr9lv-8
First 30sec of a theatre show I’m designing - youtu.be/11wSJmuXeL8
OSC spotlight - youtu.be/625f5uOWvnc

If you want to see the scaled up version here is a video of an early tech rehersal
youtu.be/ID2YMChUwOs

I did not include any demos in a well lit room, because it doesn’t look that great.
It works great for me because I have very limited space in my room. I can use it in my living room, but it needs to be very dark. (100 lumens cant make it too big, almost a whole wall)
Great for working on the concepts for bringing it to a larger scale.
Hope that was somewhat helpful. :smiley:

5

I am sure, when you say lumen, it must be ANSI lumen because 100 lumens brightness is not useful even for a dark environment.