Category Archives: Micro Projector

Update on micro projector technology

Projectors Bring Mickey Mouse To Life!

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The entertainment company known as Disney opened a new ride called “Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway”. Disney’s newest ride was brought to life with the help of Panasonic’s award-winning 4k laser projectors! This Disney and Panasonic collaboration is currently featured at Walt Disney World but will soon make its way to Anaheim’s Disneyland in 2022. Senior Vice President of Imaging at Panasonic says ” Not only do our 4K laser projectors precisely and accurately reconstruct the specific color range of the actual Mickey Mouse cartoons, but they also enable visitors to become immersed in a world where the physical environment and visual environment are seamlessly blended together. This required flexible, reliable and customizable projection technology to meet the complexity of the attraction configuration.”

This isn’t the first time Disney and Panasonic have joined forces utilizing projectors. Panasonic showcased 80 4k DLP- based laser projectors in Disney’s “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance” Ride. These standard projectors, not to be confused with the pico and micro projectors in the consumer market, utilize their bright picture resolution to bring the Star Destroyer and other visual effects and battles to life!

Mini Projector For Your Glasses!

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Tethered and standalone SmartGlasses with ColorChip Miniature RGB Projector (PRNewsfoto/ColorChip Ltd.)

ColorChip, a photonic integrated technology company, has recently released a new compact smart lens system for AR/VR smart glasses that utilize Pico Projectors. The new lens platform is in preparation for the expected growth in the AR/VR market, particularly if Apple releases their version of SmartGlasses at the end of the year.


This RGB Mini Projector gives the smart glasses lens a highly efficient display with low power consumption. The way the ColorChip embeds the RGB beam combiner ( an arrangement of splitters and mirrors to disperse and combine light) into the glass, eliminates the need for expensive housing for the projector is no longer necessary. The projection unit thus fits nicely on the arm of the glasses.

ColorChip Miniature RGB Projector (PRNewsfoto/ColorChip Ltd.)

A mini projector based system this advanced is remarkable. This Smart Lens platform made by ColorChip is pivotal in the advancement of projector technology. The ability to make a small unit that has low power consumption and is able to have an efficient display will hopefully influence big companies in the micro and micro projectors market to make smaller more compact projectors.

Walmart Uses LED Projectors For Ads

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© Photo by Talk Business

The grocery mega-giant known as Walmart has begun using LED mini projectors to test floor ads in order to boost sales. These mini projectors are a great way to draw attention to special price rollbacks, specifically on toys. 75% of shoppers said that the LED projected ads were more effective than traditional signage ads. The move to use LED projectors, both standard and pico, is a huge move for the company. Walmart is hoping that this is the most efficient way to cover advertising real estate of its 5,000 stores that each has an average of 150,000 square footage. Stefanie Jay, vice president of the Walmart Media Group, describes the need for this type of advertising by releasing this statement, “With 90% of America shopping at Walmart every year and nearly 160 million visitors to our stores and websites every week, Walmart Media Group enables brands to reach more customers at scale and measure advertising effectiveness across the entire shopping journey”.

This much real estate needs multiple projectors not only portable in size but also equipped with a brightness that can project a high-quality image. Thankfully companies like Optoma, Epson, Sony, LG, and AAXA have made great progress in lumen outputs for their LED pico projectors. The mini projector market is the perfect solution to cover all this floor real estate. Their compact size, affordability, and high lumen output make them a great asset for this type of advertising.

14 Year Old Uses Pico Projectors To Solve Auto Industry’s BlindSpots!

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The definition of a blind spot is the area of a vehicle that cannot be observed by the operator. If you have driven any vehicle that is remotely sporty you will encounter a vehicle riddled with blind spots. A 14 year old named Alaina Gassler has designed a technology to remedy the blindspot issue that drivers encounter. Gassler uses micro projectors that cast images of what’s really behind the car onto the surface of the interior pillars!

The use of these pico projectors isn’t just for behind the car, but also for the front, as this projector technology also can project live footage of pedestrians crossing! Gassler’s projector base blindspot technology project was made for her entry in the Society for Science and the Public’s Broadcom science and engineering competition. Not only did this project win first place, but also gave Gassler the $25,000 grand prize!

The projector is just part of Gassler’s initial prototype. The next version of her blind spot invention will use liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, similar to those used in Televisions. Gassler says this will allow the brightness to change according to the weather and time of day. With her $25,000 winnings, Gassler says that she finally has the capital to make the next version a reality!

© Photo by Alaina Gassler

Mini Projectors Enhancing Teaching Around The World

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Cardiac Teaching in Haiti Hospital

The micro and pico projector market is revolutionizing the way the students are being taught in 3rd world countries. With pico projectors becoming more portable and some projectors like AAXA’s P7 having enough battery power for 90 minutes, these tools have become pivotal in areas without the resources to support a full-fledged classroom.

One issue teaching in a 3rd world country like Kenya is the lack of internet access. Physicists Undergraduate Artur Donaldson had this to say about teaching Kenya ” The peak of the hill was one of the few places I encountered during my time in Kenya where there is no mobile phone reception. This means that the school and its suite of computers are isolated from the Internet — because, like most of Kenya, there is no wired broadband service in the area. “

Luckily for those teaching in these areas, the pico projectors on the market currently have USB and SD ports . This gives teachers the ability to preload their content for teaching and negates any worry about potential issues with WIFI or Cellular reception.

Wearable Micro Projector Confuses AI Facial Recognition

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© Photo by Jing-cai Lu

Our parents always told us not to stick our face to close to the screen. Well, this new wearable technology makes it so the screen gets stuck to your face. Designed by product designer Jing-cai Lu, this wearable micro projector shines a variety of faces on top of yours in order to confuse even the top AI facial recognition systems. With how common the use of facial recognition is becoming in various countries, and soon the United States, the daily privacy of the individual has become a hot topic.

This wearable pico projector gives rise to a new form of anonymity and is currently in limited productions. This level of privacy makes you ask the question, is this necessary? According to Lu, it is. Lu is quoted as saying, “In the future, the advertisement could call your name when you walk along the streets. The companies would know your personal interests and may set different retail strategies for you. It could be convenient for customers, but personal thoughts and opinions should be kept private. This product protects you from this privacy violation”. As horrifying as this may look to certain people, I must admit this is one cool use of projection technology! Talk about a portable projector!

New iMac Comes With Built-In Micro Projector

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© Photo by Apple

Harping off the momentum of Apple’s iPhone 12 with a built-in mini projector, Apple has released a patent showing an iMac projecting its screen onto the back wall. The tech company based out of Silicon Valley is exploring new ways to improve the iMac’s display. This trend towards using more pico projectors is exciting for the industry!

Paul X. Wang and Joshua P. Song were the engineers that came up with the idea to have the iMac use projection technology to display all sides of the screen directly onto the wall. The new iMac is said to come with two mini projectors, one on each side, and utilizes various unnamed sensors to create a desktop extension without buying any other equipment.

Even though there is a large possibility that this may never come into fruition as Apple is simply exploring the idea, this is great news for the pico projector market. The large commercial use of pico projectors and research into projection technology will hopefully lead to some cool advances for the pico projector consumer market.

Pico Projectors Are A Photographer’s Secret Weapon!

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Photo By Jake Hicks

A trend that has been seen frequently on the TikTok ForYou Page is the use of projectors to enhance and stylize creative portraits. Using a standard and a pico projector in the photography studio. This creates an awesome background effect that gives looks more realistic when compared to using effects in post-production. The amount of mobility you have when using a pico projector makes taking these photos a breeze. 

Photo by DIY Photography

Playing around with the different backdrops, adjusting the brightness, and messing with the focus of the projector can completely enhance the mood of each portrait. A cool hack that has been highly discussed is having projectors with a high lumen output for great background photography. Thankfully there are tons to choose from right now, the mini projector market has projects with a really high Lumen output. Using a high lumen projector brings the model into focus while naturally blurring the background.

To avoid the mobility and weight issues with the standard projectors, look at the market of micro and pico projectors for a compact product that packs a mean punch! Not only are pico projectors more affordable but they also give you more bang for your buck. Projectors like AAXA’s P300 Neo and the Cinemood Portable Theatre let the photographer try different angles because of their compact size. In terms of brightness, these pico projectors shine bright on effects on your subjects as the Anker boasts a solid 200 lumens and the P7 has a whopping 600 lumens.

Try this little hack out on your next photoshoot and comment below how it worked for you. If you need more inspiration for types of shoots you can do while using a micro projector click on this link!

Does Apple’s New iPhone 12 Come With Its Own Mini Projector?!

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© Photo by Forbes

Even though the iPhone 11 just became the go-to phone, Apple is making huge moves towards the next generation in their phone line up. Leaks of Apple‘s ideas for the 12 have begun to emerge that is getting the pico and micro projector market buzzing. Yes, the iPhone 12 being the first 5G phone is exciting, but the news that is getting all of us exciting is the fact that the iPhone 12 is suppose to have a built-in mini projector.

Now, this projector isn’t going to be set up the same way we are used to setting our LED micro projectors up at home. To enable this projector instead of pressing a button the user pulls two inserts from either end of the phone and projects in both directions. This allows you to display onto the nearest flat surface to watch movies, games, or watch your Vlogging videos on YouTube. This is an extremely interesting concept that will hopefully open up more doors for the pico projector market. Our biggest concern for this is really the brightness and picture quality. Hopefully, Apple is able to bring their concept to life with enough brightness and picture quality to give pocket projectors that represent the LED Pico Projector community like AAXA’s M6, Vamvo’s Mini, AAXA’s P7, and Sony’s MP-CD1 a good name. Check out the Apple iPhone 12 trailer to see it in action for yourself.

Compact Projector Astonishes Australian Art Festival Goers

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© Photo by Brad’sBlog

The Adelaide Fringe Festival known for being the world’s second-biggest art festival introduced an awe-inspiring interactive art installation with the help of FujiFilm’s FP-Z500 Ultra Short Throw Project. This projector is equipped with the world’s first folded two- axial rotatable lens that allows for omnidirectional image projection without moving the unit. In layman’s terms, this projector has the ability to direct its lens up, down, front, rear, left and right to project images without having to be physically moved. Another awesome bit of news for us micro projector fans is that Fujifilm was able to fit all of this technology in a fairly compact body measuring only 108 mm thick. Hopefully, technology like this will trickle down to the pico projector market!

© Photo by Brad’sBlog

The versatility of this projector allowed Karl ‘ Winda’ Telfer’s Yabarra – Dreaming in Light to come to life as the festival’s main attraction. Some highlights of this projector’s work are its ability to project simultaneously on the walls, floor, and ceiling without any seams in the image. Fujifilm’s FP-Z5000 has not only been able to project these images but has retained the images picture quality, maintaining the rich and vibrant colors that the artist envisioned.

The two men responsible for coming up with the idea of using the FP-Z5000 are Milenko Novakovic and Leko Novakovic, the co-owners of Novatech Creative Event Technology, the audiovisual company in charge of providing and installing the equipment on Yabarra – Dreaming in Light. Leko is quoted as saying “The FP-Z5000 is such a unique product and Milenko had some great ideas of how we could use these projectors in new and innovative ways, one of which was for the Yabarra – Dreaming installation, so we decided on an initial purchase of four units.”

The dreaming light installation is available at the Adelaide Fringe Festival until March 15th. If you are in the area check out the installation and comment on what you think of the projector. For the rest of us we can learn more about the compact projector here: