TOPIC:   Setting up a digital projector.

Last Update  19 October 2005

URL/Contact

Comments

Roy Moore of Maidstone CC, and MBS comments

A reasonable setup of a digital projector can be done using Adobe Gamma (utility free with Photoshop).

All setup programs like this are really adjusting the graphics card lookup table, so it’s modifying the computer - not the projector, and needs to be done for each computer+projector combination.

Also, the overall effect depends on the screen used and the viewing environment, so the setup really needs to be done at every new venue even for the same computer+projector.

Viewing angle to the screen is not as much of a problem as viewing an LCD screen, but there may be an effect, depending on the screen material.

 

www.normankoren.com

A site which was mentioned in the discussion forum section of the RPS website.  The whole site has pages on lots of topics, but there is a page about monitor setup, which must be usable for projector+screen setup.

There are targets for a quick assessment of your monitor, and reference to a gamma setup utility (not Adobe), which may be downloaded from the site.

 

www.computer-darkroom.com

A site by Ian Lyons with tutorial material including information about setting up Apple displays.

 

www.drycreekphoto.com

at   /Learn/monitor-calibration.htm   has more information about calibrating with simple utilities and special equipment.  Includes file download s for colour targets with various profiles.

 

www.smugmug.com

at   /help/display-color   has an explanation about colour profiling monitors.

 

Steve Brabner of Amersham PS (CACC)

This (setup) is a problem that we are facing at Amersham and I would be happy to participate in any debate that you may be generating in the future. Our club projector and laptop have been profiled professionally, but few members' systems are profiled, and there is no common standard or procedure. Furthermore there appears to be an issue with different software using different colour spaces. This is particularly noticeable with Photoshop, where it appears that viewing an image in Photoshop does not give the same result as viewing the same image in other windows-based programs typically used for projection shows.

Other problems may be emerging such as the wide variation in brightness of video projectors, the inherent characteristics of their different technologies ie LCD vs LDP, the inclusion of colour profiles within image files etc.

David Huntingford of Ludshott PC (SPA)

Ludshott Photographic Club has a NEC projector and a Packard Bell laptop. We use the RPS recommended image size of 1024 x 768 at 144 pixels/inch. Our files are saved in JPEG as TIFF files cannot be transferred to Picture - exe. As yet we have no rules for using digital projection for competitions as there appears to be no programme available that would suite our needs for such use, e.g. being able to pull out individual images for later judgment.

As you are no doubt aware the same projector will give different colour and contrast renditions on different screens. This is no different to what we see now when entering inter-club competitions where all the projectors and screens are different, what may be a good image on our club set up may not come across as well on someone else set up. We as a club cannot see digital being any different to the current situation with slides.

 

www.imageplace.co.uk

Tony Riley (in SPA) runs training courses and demos.  Website has good tutorial material, and explains how/why of colour profiling.

www.scs-imaging.co.uk

Simon Clifford-Smith will calibrate more or less anything, including projectors.  Most services are on-site, including projector calibration.

www.colourcollective.co.uk

www.nativedigital.co.uk

Company specialising in colour profiling, both equipment for DIY and remote/visiting.  Has been included in RPS workshops series.

? SD Services of High Wycombe