[Gordie1]

I have a projector hich is natively 4.3, and i am wondering if there is a some form of lens which i can use to convert it to 16.9?

I have seen some projectors which come with a 16.9 anamorphic lens which just clips over the front of the existing one, but not for my model.

Does anyone know of any generic ones (one size fits all), or would i be able to just buy one from another model and use it?

i realise i can just use the settings to compress the image to 16.9 mode, but you lose around 35% of the quality by doing that, im looking for a cheap,quick fix, until full HD units come down in price.

Thanks for any replies

[hpr]

I don't really know, but while you are waiting for an informed response...

What's your budget? What's the diameter of the lens? How close can you mount an adaptor to the front of your lens? If you can't get it close enough you may lose parts of the frame. Do you want to squish the image or strech it.

The prismasonic ones start around £500, doubling rapidly. The prismasonic site has lots cool stuff worth checking out such as calculators so you know what to look for. Ebay could be your best bet, prism optics are available there if you want to roll your own. check out old cine gear as well if really stretched.

Depends what you mean by cheap. To me this is not cheap and I'm lucky that my 4:3projector can optinally squish the image to 16:9, I assume you have already verified that you can't do that on yours.

Best of luck

[Gordie1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpr

I don't really know, but while you are waiting for an informed response...

What's your budget? What's the diameter of the lens? How close can you mount an adaptor to the front of your lens? If you can't get it close enough you may lose parts of the frame. Do you want to squish the image or strech it.

The prismasonic ones start around £500, doubling rapidly. The prismasonic site has lots cool stuff worth checking out such as calculators so you know what to look for. Ebay could be your best bet, prism optics are available there if you want to roll your own. check out old cine gear as well if really stretched.

Depends what you mean by cheap. To me this is not cheap and I'm lucky that my 4:3projector can optinally squish the image to 16:9, I assume you have already verified that you can't do that on yours.

Best of luck

thanks for the reply, no i cant optically compess the image, and i want to squash it not stretch it sideways, yes £500 was the figures i was seeing as well, but i thought i must have been looking at the wrong things due to that price.


if that is what it would cost, i would be better selling my projector on Ebay and adding £200 to it and buying a new 16.9 one.

Thanks again

[Chris Frost]

A lens can be used to go from 4:3 to 16:9. £500 - £700 for something worth owning. £6K for a daddy lens if you are feeling flush.

Benefits[LIST][*]improves widescreen film resolution by 33% vertically[*]image brightness increases because of greater efficiency[*]removes shadow bars above and below the image[*]improves perceived contrast ratio (links to above point)[/LIST]
Caveats[LIST][*]need to move the projector closer to the screen[*]physically ugly[*]all lenses soften the image; the cheapest ones significantly so.[/LIST]
Don't bother on any 4:3 projector with a resolution of less than 1024x768. It would be cheaper to buy a new 16:9 projector.