Projected Backgrounds

I was looking to project a background for a project I was working on recently. For this particular project, I needed more light than the halogen in a slide projector could provide so an alternative was in order. After a little research I found the perfect solution to my problem, the Norman TL-2000 looked like just the ticket. After a quick look at the price tag, I suddenly found myself inspired to try a little DIY. So I called around to the local camera repair shop and found that they had a few broken slide projectors in the repair queue. After a conversation with the repair guy I came home with this beauty.

Now this projector is quite easily reparable (the ceramic bulb mount was cracked) which is why I was charged an exorbitant $60 for it but are we going to repair it? I thought not. Where's the fun in that?

I sat her down on my operating table and went to work. Looking in bulb compartment I found just the opportunity I was looking for. The light path comes straight to the back of the case where it is reflected off a mirror to the bulb which is mounted to the right. This means there are only two things in the way preventing me from pumping my own light in the back. First the easy one; the mirror comes out with just two screws. Next the back panel. I removed all 4 screws and took off the base plate. Then as I started working on the back panel I discovered that the little insert just pops out all on its own and, get this, the hole left behind is an almost perfect match for the lens in a speedlite. Coincidence? I think not. This mod was destined to be.

I popped out the insert and put the base plate back on. Finally there is one other parts we can remove. If you look at the optics in the body there are lenses just behind the slide mount. The first is a condenser; we want that. However the other is just a flat glass heat shield. Its important in close proximity to a halogen bulb, but when using a speedlite all it does is suck up light and add a greenish color cast so out it comes. Assembled again and back on her feet, you can see our leaner, meaner speedlite charged slide projector along with the removed parts and my sole instrument of torture.

Finally, some action. I used my 430EX (triggered by a Pocket Wizard) to project a photo of the moon on a white seamless. There is a softbox on the left spilling light on to my background which is hurting my contrast a bit but with better light control the contrast is great. Even without the heat shield the projector adds a bit of a greenish cast so white balance is a bit funky. Probably a pale windowpane green gel on the rest of your lights is in order. After a bunch of screwing around to get good focus I discovered that my little LED flashlight make a great modeling lamp.