Half zoom vs. Full Zoom?

[snowball_iv]

Hey i have a panny ae3000 and i was wondering will there be a difference in quality of sharpness if i watch the movie at half zoom, instead of full zoom. My throw at full zoom is about 14 to 15 feet.

[Disky76]

Originally Posted by snowball_iv

Hey i have a panny ae3000 and i was wondering will there be a difference in quality of sharpness if i watch the movie at half zoom, instead of full zoom. My throw at full zoom is about 14 to 15 feet.

I am not familiar with your particular projector, however, with mine I do not notice any difference when zooming. My throw is similar to yours, and I do zoom a bit to fill the screen properly.

My best suggestion, if you haven't mounted the projector yet, is to try it from different throw distances and find the ideal setting that suits your tastes.

My response is in lieu of forthcoming responses from more seasoned front projection enthusiasts, who I am sure will provide more detailed and technical answers. LOL

[mr.hidef]

Originally Posted by snowball_iv

Hey i have a panny ae3000 and i was wondering will there be a difference in quality of sharpness if i watch the movie at half zoom, instead of full zoom. My throw at full zoom is about 14 to 15 feet.

Any kind of zoom will reduce picture clarity and quality. That is why NO zoom should be used(suggested).........you'll just have to deal with the black bars. They will never go away. (because of the formating of the camera lenses used in filming)

( to fix this and keep your picture quality......you can get masking for around your screen. if you are creative, you can make it so you can shift between the aspect ratios)

[Deciazulado]

But the Panny comes with a a zoom lens, instead of a fixed focal length lens..

Every zoom lens has an optimum point for image quality within its range, but I don't own the Panny, so you might want try to test image quality with different focal lengths/throw distance combinations (if your room physically allows for this, of course) using a resolution test disc image, if this is very important to you to see if you find perceptible quality differences at the different positions of the zoom.

[Brain Sturgeon]

For most PJ lenses, you should generally try to avoid the extremes of the zoom lens; but most of the time, differences in sharpness from one end of the zoom to the other are going to be pretty small. What will be more noticeable will be light output and contrast ratio. At long throw (minimal zoom), you will have lower light output and higher contrast ratio. At short throw (maximal zoom) you will have higher light output and lower contrast ratio. These are general rules, though, and the quality of your PJ's lens will come into play as well. I would generally err towards the short to middle lengths of your PJ's throw capabilities, but I don't think you are going to lose a lot of picture quality whether you are at one end of the zoom or the other.

[snowball_iv]

Sweet thank you everyone. I am mounting it this weekend so i have been bouncing it around to see where the best place would be. In the back middle it's about 15 ft. but if i go to the back right corner, where the stairs comes down into the room, i can go back another 3ish feet but i would have to shift the lense alot to center the image. I don't think I can swith back and forth with the different ratios and keep them both centered.

Again thank you for the input.

[Brain Sturgeon]

Try to avoid horizontal lens shift if at all possible. Vertical lens shift is generally accepted as necessary. Horizontal lens shift is generally a no-no for most pro installers. Back middle at 15' sounds like your best bet.

[ryoohki]

Well full zoom generaly get you about 30% less brithness and depending on the price the corner can't be fully focus, that's an optical principal and at 2400$ Street you can't ask for the best (LOL Canon L lens cost more than this sometime). Mid Zoom is ok. I use Full zoom because i have no choice and the corner aren't that bad. But i'am moving soon so..