"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 18/10/2013 08:42, Charlie Pridham wrote:
I need to change to digital projection, I occasionally give talks to
garden clubs and have a slide projector but have found it increasingly
difficult to get hold of the slide film so last year bought a DSLR
camera, very pleased with the pictures but at present I can't use them!

You can get digital to slide done professionally for a (high) price.

So as I am not Alan Titchmarsh and don't charge a huge amount to give
talks I was looking at something like the Epson EB S02H which seems to
retail at around the 240-250 mark but the spare bulbs are 140 ish and I
wouldn't be happy not having a spare. (Why are the bulbs so much more
for these projectors compared with slide ones?)

You may find that some of the better gardening clubs and venues have their
own digital projectors (although spare bulbs are another thing). It is
often cheaper and better to replace the projector with the next generation
higher resolution one when the bulb blows up. By then the cost of the
replacement bulb and an entire new projector are comparable!

The BCSS branch I belong to has its own HD digital projector and a laptop
for speakers to use with calibrated colour. Our village hall has a lesser
grade DLP one 720p rather than 1080p bought second hand. It isn't kept in
the hall except when being used for obvious reasons.

BTW pay attention to the fan noise rating (typically in economy mode) if
you are going to be talking over it as opposed to playing movies. I have
known some when on full brightness that sound like a hair drier!

While looking at all that I noticed a LED-33 projector for just 130
which claims 25000 hours bulb life?

LEDs last longer but are IME mostly not as bright (yet). In a darkened
room you might get away with it there are some that would be cheaper than
a normal projector and a spare lamp. No experience of this one but would
be interested if anyone has seen it in use (or an independent review):

http://www.projectorsite.co.uk/index...=133&parent=26

£370 for a native 1280x800 display @ 2600lumens noise 30dB

I'd aim for full HD 1080p if buying new these days.

My question is, does anyone here use the cheaper LED projectors and is
the picture quality OK? (ie does it compare with an old fashioned slide
projector)

I suppose I normally project onto a 5' square screen and can chose the
distance, normally evenings so I don't need to project in bright light

The other thing to look out for is local voluntary groups who can make
projectors & OHPs available to hire/borrow for educational talks.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Many thanks for all the replies, I have decided to go for something fairly
modest price wise on the grounds that a lot of the bigger clubs do seem to
have their own kit, so I just need something here to practice with! and that
should help with the bulb life (using someone else's!!)

I also think I have found somewhere I can go see some projected images
(mine) on various projectors which should show me just how much resolution
or lack of it I can put up with.

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

In article ,
Charlie Pridham wrote:

I also think I have found somewhere I can go see some projected images
(mine) on various projectors which should show me just how much resolution
or lack of it I can put up with.

I should be interested to hear your conclusions.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 19/10/2013 17:54, Charlie Pridham wrote:

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 18/10/2013 08:42, Charlie Pridham wrote:
I need to change to digital projection, I occasionally give talks to
garden clubs and have a slide projector but have found it increasingly
difficult to get hold of the slide film so last year bought a DSLR
camera, very pleased with the pictures but at present I can't use them!

[snip]

I'd aim for full HD 1080p if buying new these days.

My question is, does anyone here use the cheaper LED projectors and is
the picture quality OK? (ie does it compare with an old fashioned slide
projector)

I suppose I normally project onto a 5' square screen and can chose the
distance, normally evenings so I don't need to project in bright light

The other thing to look out for is local voluntary groups who can make
projectors & OHPs available to hire/borrow for educational talks.


Many thanks for all the replies, I have decided to go for something
fairly modest price wise on the grounds that a lot of the bigger clubs
do seem to have their own kit, so I just need something here to practice
with! and that should help with the bulb life (using someone else's!!)

I also think I have found somewhere I can go see some projected images
(mine) on various projectors which should show me just how much
resolution or lack of it I can put up with.

The other thing it is worth treating yourself to is a combined magic
dongle and laser pointer that makes next slide and previous slide easy.
It is a big improvement on saying "next slide please" all the time.

I wouldn't recommend anything less than 720p these days. Also check the
performance on the sort of material you intend to project. They will all
do skin tones really well but some may be a bit vague usually along the
line of purples where many flowers are clustered.

No conventional colour film could reproduce the true saturated
purple/magenta colour of Notocactus Ubemannianus flowers reliably.
Digital is better but they still dump residuals in the line of purples
so as to get critical flesh tones optimal. The eye is very sensitive to
abnormal flesh tones or colour casts which may indicate disease.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown