overheard projectors - can anyone help?

[russell]

hey there:]


im looking for advice on buying an overhead projector. the old type, for as cheap as possible.

i want one for projecting my art and so it has to be as high quality as possible and i have no idea at all where to start - prices on ebayUK are dirt cheap but i have read that you can get single/double/triple lens and open lens types that affect the image quality.

it is for a small room which can be quite nicely darkened.


can anyone give me some advice? has anyone used one before for this?


thanks ca:]

[MephistoLV]

hey there:]


im looking for advice on buying an overhead projector. the old type, for as cheap as possible.



Do you mean an opaque projector? 'Cause if you mean one of these 249730
you won't be able to project your art unless you make a transparancy out of it, which will really wreck the quality anyway, regardless of your lens system.

[russell]

its for blowing up onto large canvases which are then going to painted over. you think dlp is the only way to go?

[MephistoLV]

It sounds like you are looking for something along these lines...
http://www.dickblick.com/categories/opaqueprojectors/

The artwork generally needs to be small with these, usually 6-7 inches or less on each side. These opaque projectors tend to distort around the edges and also tend to produce chromatic abberation.

If your intention is just to use it as a tool for transferring your sketch onto canvas for painting, they work just fine. However, you as the artist are still responsible for correcting distortions and making adjustments on the larger surface, as scaling up always magnifies problems in the original that are simply not visible at a small scale.

[MephistoLV]

One other thing I forgot to mention...
Projectors don't really save much time over the good ol' grid method (and the grid method is free) :)

[russell]

the grid method takes me back a few years lol



thanks for the help:]

[Elwell]

One other thing I forgot to mention...
Projectors don't really save much time over the good ol' grid method (and the grid method is free) :)
I beg to differ! Although I haven't used a projector in years, these days I generally just enlarge/reduce in PS, print, and transfer when necessary.

[MarkHarchar]

I would have to agree with Elwell. I use the grid method at times and it can be a very time consuming process depending on what image you are transferring.