Canon REALiS WUX10 Projector - Performance
5-8-09 -Mike Rollett
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Brightness
The WUX10 is rated at 3200 lumens, but like most manufacturers, this was somewhat overstated. In Presentation mode (the brightest), I measured 2668 lumens at mid-zoom range. At full wide zoom, this increased to 2844 lumens. Fully zoomed in, the WUX10 measured 2219 lumens. While not close to its 3200 lumen rating, it was still quite bright. Even with some ambient light in my viewing room, the WUX10 had no problem displaying an image that was not washed out.
In the images below, the Canon was projecting approximately a 96 inch, 16:10 diagonal image. In the first image, the projector is in Presentation mode, lamp power on high, and the room is fully lit, with four recessed 65 watt lights on, and the window behind the projector with blinds open (daytime, but no direct sunlight). Because the projector is so much brighter than the ambient light in the room, the automatic exposure makes the screen look good, but the rest of the room far darker than reality.
In the next image, same basic shot but with the projector turned off. Again, the camera adjusts for the scene lighting. This gives you a much more realistic look as to how bright the room is.
Using Standard mode, which prioritizes white reproduction, the output was 2162 lumens. The two other modes available were sRGB, at 2116 lumens and Movie bringing up the rear at 1932 lumens.
Going from Standard to Silent brightness mode resulted in a 25% drop in lumen output. This still resulted in almost 2000 lumens in Presentation mode, easily enough for a presentation with some light control.
Sharpness
With a resolution of 1920 x 1200, my standard spreadsheet of various sized and colored text was no problem for the WUX10, easily displaying the smallest 8 pt. text as sharp as the larger font sizes. Regardless of the input resolution fed to it, the WUX10 displayed a consistently razor sharp image, easily the best I’ve seen to date in a multimedia projector. This carried over to all image sources, which were extremely detailed.
You may click on this image for a larger one. Quite honestly, the projector is much sharper than what you see here, and that's due to the resizing of the image to fit. You can look at text sizes as small as 8 points (tiny - at least as far as meetings go).
Next is the lower part of the same spreadsheet. Here you can see colored text on a colored background, as well as a yellow block. We like to observe yellow performance, because it is usually the worst looking when a projector can't do the colors well. (Many DLP projectors tend to make that a mustardy yellow with a touch of green. Here the yellow is excellent).
Audible Noise
The Canon WUX10 displayed the usual amount of noise for a multimedia projector in its standard brightness mode (35 dB). While that noise level is noticeable in a totally quiet room, it would not likely be objectionable in a typical presenting environment where the presenter and/or others would be talking. In Silent mode, the noise level drops to 31dB, which is almost imperceptible even in a totally quiet environment, unless one is in extremely close proximity to the projector. In comparison, many projectors designed specifically for home theater use have this level of noise in their bright modes. Overall, the noise level of the WUX10 was not an issue in either lamp mode and certainly not for its intended uses.
NEXT: Canon WUX10 warranty