Projection Mapping Setups on a Budget

Projection mapping is a common interest for new TouchDesigner users, and one that really requires hands-on experience. This leads to the perennial question: “what projector should I buy?” Once you start shopping for a projector, you’ll quickly realize that there are a huge number of projectors out there to sort through, not to mention various specifications you’ll need to familiarize yourself with! To make things easier, we’ve spent some time sorting through the spec sheets for you. In this post, we’ll look at a number of budget-friendly projectors that could be great options for TouchDesigner users looking to get into projection mapping.

Projector Specifications: What’s Important?

Check out our post Choosing a Beginner Projector for Projection Mapping with TouchDesigner for more in-depth information and resources about choosing a projector! We’ve summarized some of the key takeaways below.

First, it’s usually worth picking a projector with a recognizable brand name. In general, brands like Panasonic, Epson, Optoma, Sony, JVC, BenQ, and NEC are known to be trustworthy and reliable. In the budget-friendly price bracket you’re likely to see plenty of options from Panasonic, Epson, Optoma, and BenQ (and if you’re based outside North America, NEC as well).

Brightness is one of the key specifications to consider. We’d recommend finding a projector in the 2-5k lumens range to give you the ability to use the projector under various lighting conditions. In general, the more lumens you can find for the price will afford you this flexibility. Projectors with a low lumen count will require much more ambient lighting control in the space (potentially little to no ambient light for a good picture), so if possible it’s usually worth upgrading for a projector with higher brightness output. Here, we’ve focused on projectors with 4,000 lumens or more.

Resolution is another specification worth considering. Higher resolution output often comes at a much higher price, and the impact on your final projection is highly dependent on the situation, including final projection size and audience/viewer distance from the projection. Although projectors with 4K+ resolutions are available, in the sub US$2,000 price range they tend to offer pretty low brightness ratings. We’ve focused on projectors in the 1280×800 to 1920×1080 output range, as they tend to offer significantly higher brightness ratings for the price.

And that leads us to price, a core focus of putting this list together, and of course a key factor in your decision making! In trying to keep things budget friendly, we’re specifically looking at projectors around ~US$1300 or less. This will limit us to mainly consumer-oriented projectors intended for use in the home.

Optoma ZW350e

More info at projectorcentral.com
Introduced: June 2023
Price: ~US$649
Brightness: 4,000 Lumens (ANSI)
Resolution: 1280×800 (WXGA)
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Display Type: 0.65″ DLP x 1
Dynamic Contrast: 2,000,000:1
Lamp Type: Laser Phosphor
Lamp Life: 30,000 Hours
Throw Ratio: 1.54:1 – 1.72:1
Weight: 6.6lbs

The Optoma ZW350e is the lowest priced projector we have on our list, but features pretty remarkable specifications for that price. For less than US$700, you get a bright laser-based projector (meaning long lamp life) with good contrast ratio in a small, portable form factor. Where this projector lacks compared to higher priced alternatives is in output resolution — it only supports 1280×800 maximum.

ViewSonic LS610WH

More info at projectorcentral.com
Introduced: December 2022
Price: ~US$750
Brightness: 4,000 Lumens (ANSI)
Resolution: 1280×800 (WXGA)
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Display Type: DLP x 1
Dynamic Contrast: 3,000,000:1
Lamp Type: LED
Lamp Life: 60,000 hours
Throw Ratio: 1.37:1 – 1.64:1
Weight: 11.0lbs

Although it looks mostly similar to the previous Optoma ZW350e, the ViewSonic LS610WH uses an LED-based light source, offering an impressive 60,000 hours of lamp life (or at least, that’s what ViewSonic claim!) and better contrast ratio. On the other hand, it’s not quite as portable as the Optoma, weighing in at 11.0lbs versus the Optoma’s 6.6lbs.

ViewSonic LS740H

More info at projectorcentral.com
Introduced: June 2023
Price: ~US$1,050
Brightness: 5,000 Lumens (ANSI)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p FHD)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Display Type: 0.65″ DLP x 1
Dynamic Contrast: 3,000,000:1
Lamp Type: Laser Phosphor
Lamp Life: 20,000 hours  / 30,000 hours (Eco)
Throw Ratio: 1.13:1 – 1.47:1
Weight: 6.6lbs

As we start to move up in price, we finally break the 5,000 lumen barrier with the ViewSonic LS740H! It manages to pack a very bright laser light source into a small 6.6lb form factor, while also bumping the output resolution up to 1080p. Being that it is portable, bright, sports a full HD output, and still around US$1000, it’s a nice sweet spot of features and price. Projector Central did an in-depth review of this model which is worth checking out!

Optoma ZH420

More info at projectorcentral.com
Introduced: May 2023
Price: ~US$1,199
Brightness: 4,300 Lumens (ANSI)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p FHD)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Display Type: 0.65″ DLP x 1
Dynamic Contrast: 2,000,000:1
Lamp Type: Laser Phosphor
Lamp Life: 30,000 hours
Throw Ratio: 1.12:1 – 1.47:1
Weight: 6.6lbs

The Optoma ZH420 offers similar specs to the ViewSonic LS740H, including a small form factor, laser light source, 1080p output resolution, but slightly lower brightness and contrast ratio. If the 4,300 lumen rating isn’t quite enough for you, Optoma offer a slightly upgraded model that is rated at 5,000 lumens — see the Optoma ZH462 on projectorcentral.com.

Epson Pro EX11000

More info at projectorcentral.com
Introduced: June 2023
Price: ~US$1,299
White Brightness: 4,600 Lumens (ISO)
Color Brightness: 4,600 Lumens (CLO)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p FHD)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Display Type: 3LCD
Contrast: Up to 100,000:1
Lamp Type: Laser Phosphor
Lamp Life: 20,000 hours
Throw Ratio 1.32:1 – 2.12:1
Weight: 9.5 lbs

At the end of our list, the Epson Pro EX11000 is the only projector on our list with a 3LCD display type! This means that it will produce as many color lumens as white lumens, and colors will be more vibrant as a result. Epson has a good track record with making reliable projectors with great picture quality, and this one is not likely to disappoint!

Wrap-Up

These are just a few of the many, many projectors currently available, but each offer pretty good value for the cost in terms of brightness, contrast, and output resolution. For getting started with projection mapping on a limited budget, they could be a great place to start! Of course, another option is to check out used options of similarly spec’d models — local rental companies often upgrade to new projectors and are a great place to check out. With that said, we hope that this post has been helpful as you’re trying to pick a projector out for yourself!