Lens Shift

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Art Feierman

Click to enlarge. SO close

This Epson has plenty of lens shift too! For that same 100 inch screen, the Epson can be placed, (normal or inverted), anywhere from 22.7 inches above the top of the screen surface, all the way down to 22.7 inches below the bottom of the screen surface. That is measured from the center of the lens. There is also a good amount of horizontal lens shift. Using horizontal lens shift will partially limit the range of the vertical lens shift (and vice versa).

The combination of the wide range zoom lens, and excellent lens shift, makes ceiling mounting, or shelf mounting practical, in almost any room situattion.

Click Image to Enlarge

Anamorphic Lens

The Epson Home Cinema 8700UB supports an anamorphic lens. The 8700UB is the first of the Home Cinema series to offer support. The Epson provides a single mode, and for that reason, you would use the usual anamorphic lens, and motorized sled combination, which moves the lens out of the way for 16:9 and 4:3 material. A number of other projectors today now offer two modes. The second allows you to watch 16:9 and 4:3 with the lens in place. That's not as good as the sled solution from a pure performance standpoint, but it is a money saver. If you are interested in that solution - anamorphic lens, without a sled, then I suggest the Epson Pro Cinema 9700UB, which is pretty much identical, but for having a black case, and different names for several of the preset color modes.

The Pro Cinema 9700 costs about $1000 more and in addition to the second anamorphic mode, it has a third year warranty, and comes with a ceiling mount and a spare lamp. (Epson's been doing that package with the Pro series for four generations).