Best size/resolution for digital projector

[Geoff F]

I have never understood the requirements of this sort of equipment; which I don't own.

In the past, when I have been asked for photos to be displayed, the equipment owners couldn't give me any specifications for best use.

Now I have to produce a slideshow for the local History Society and don't know what are the optimum image sizes/resolution.

In actual fact, the problem is that our previous 'projectionist' has left the area and the association chairman has loaded the required images onto a CD but found they play in a random order.

I assume these photos will need to be downloaded to my hard drive and renamed in chronological order. For example 001; 002; 003, etc and then burnt to a new disc.

When I do this I will have an opportunity to resize them for optimum display, if I knew what was required. Apparently they are currently at 300 ppi but various sizes, I assume. That is unless they have been auto resized which could result in poor quality anyway.

The distance between projector and screen will be around 10 or 12 feet.

So does anybody have any experience of this sort of thing and can advise what are the best image or other settings?

At the moment, I don't know which make/model of projector but I will receive a CD of photos to work on tomorrow, for a display in a couple of days time.

Incidentally, I asked whether the computer system used CD or DVD and just got a blank stare in reply.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Geoff,

Hmmm, sounds like they'll be happy to see anything (or should be) under the circumstances!

To my mind, I think ppi/dpi figure is irrelevant, just as it is for web display.
What matters is the native resolution of the projector and the aim is to match that 1:1 for sharpest display. Looking on a website for these things (I don't have one, so this is all theoretical), the resolutions available aren't different from common screens (an example). So you just need to find out the make and model

I believe Antonio has done this kind of thing, hopefully he'll have some practical experience to impart.

Good luck,

[Geoff F]

Thanks, that gives me something to work with.

If I set the image size to something around 1024 pixels on the wide side it should work OK for anything smaller as well.

Recently a meeting of our local Festival showed some of my photos on a continuous loop during the meeting but they weren't that sharp or well coloured so I will take that into account as well.

Incidentally, at that meeting someone just turned up with a laptop, projector and CD of my photos, and no idea how they fitted together. Eventually, me and another person managed to put everything together and got it all to run as the meeting was starting. But it was a close run thing.

Hopefully this time we will have a bit more thinking time.

[Shadowman]

Epson has a great learning center but if the projector you have has limited functionality the knowledge you gain may not help you much. I have one and one of the key features is the Color Mode which gives you the option of choosing the following:Presentation, Movie, Photo, sRGB, White or Black Board. Each of the settings will have a pronounced effect on your photo, changing color temperature, contrast, and hue. If the images you will be using have been properly edited and saved for optimum viewing, such as on a 1024x768 monitor then the quality of the photo should be able to withstand such close scrutiny.

http://www.3lcd.com/Default.aspx?ct=...f-895fa4faec0a

[Donald]

I have one and one of the key features is the Color Mode which gives you the option of choosing the following:Presentation, Movie, Photo, sRGB, White or Black Board.

See this advise when I posted a similar question.

[Geoff F]

Well this is all pointing me in the right direction, hopefully.

I expect the images will be copies of old B&W photos/postcards/prints and some may well be in poor condition or have been badly scanned.

Just stills on the basic Windows photo/slideshow viewer but they will need to be shown individually with a little discussion between images. So I suspect a little practice of this system will be needed.

The guy who worked with me until we both retired a couple of years ago has a better understanding of this sort of thing but he will be away on holiday! And I doubt anybody else will have much experience of photo presentations. I could probably do it OK with my normal editing software but this won't be available on the night when another persons basic laptop will be used.

Over the past year or so I have scanned and retouched a few items for the association but this has given them the false expectation that I am an expert who can do anything.

These meetings usually get an audience of around 50 local people so I think a practice run the day before may be a good idea.