Posted on July 4, 2013 By Mike Rollett
CANON REALIS WX6000 LCOS PROJECTOR: As expected from Canon, here’s a very high resolution commercial projector – claiming 5700 lumens and producing great color for serious commercial, medical applications. Relatively compact, auditorium capable! Wow!
The Canon REALiS WX6000 is a high brightness (5700 lumen rating), medium-high resolution (WXGA+ – 1440 X 900) projector that is aimed at projection venues where there is usually (if not always) a fair amount of ambient light. As you would expect of a projector at this price point (approx. $4000), the WX6000 has a full set of features, including power zoom, focus and lens shift. Connection options are fairly minimal for a projector of this type, with inputs for only three video types (RGB, DVI-I and HDMI). There is also serial control and audio in/out.
The WX6000 is designed for a permanent installation. However, it is lighter than most of the competition (about 20 lbs. with standard lens), making it quite usable as a portable projector when placed on a cart.
The WX6000 is network connectable (through its LAN input) allowing for control of the projector, as well as monitoring the projector’s status, scheduled maintenance and problem notification remotely. As likely uses of this projector would include medical school training and medical imaging presentations, Canon has included a picture mode that conforms to the grayscale requirements of the DICOM standards. This is routinely used to provide a clearer picture of X-ray images (see details in the Special Features section).
The WX6000 does not come with a lens, but for our review, we were provided with the standard zoom lens (1.5 to 2.21:1). There are three additional lens options, a long focus zoom lens, an ultra-long focus zoom lens and a short throw fixed lens. These lens options are explained in more detail in the “Special Features” section below.
There are three other projectors in the series. The WUX4000 and WUX5000 each have 1920×1200 resolution and are rated at 4000 and 5000 lumens respectively. The SX6000 has 1400×1050 resolution and is rated at 6000 lumens.
Optional Lenses For more flexibility of installation, Canon offers a total of four lenses to choose from, depending on your installation needs. The standard lens (which comes with the WX6000 projector and was used for this review) has a throw ratio that ranges from 1.5 to 2.21 (this means the projector can be placed at a distance from the screen that equals 1.5 to 2.21 times the screen width). There are two long throw, zoom lens that have throw ratios 2.1 to 3.72:1 and 3.8 to 7.3:1. What does this mean? It means that by choosing the appropriate lens, the projector can display a fairly large 200” diagonal image at distances ranging from 21.6’ to 100.1’.
There is also a wide-angle lens (fixed at 0.8 throw ratio) available that’s typically used for rear projection applications (needs only 11.5 feet to project a 200” diagonal image). Street prices on these lenses are around $540 for the standard lens, $2200 for the fixed and long throw lenses and over $3000 for the ultra-long throw zoom lens.
DICOM Picture Mode Canon has included a special picture mode to the WX6000 that displays images simulating the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) standard used with B/W medical imaging (such as X-rays). This mode optimizes black/gray/white detail. Like other projectors that include such a mode, it is not intended for actual medical evaluation, but it allows for more accurate training of medical students, as well as more detailed medical imaging presentations.
Horizontal and Vertical Lens Shift To facilitate ease of installation, the Canon WX6000 has manual lens shift in both the horizontal and vertical directions. There are maximums of -15% and +55% vertical lens shift (downward and upward respectively if table mounted) and +/- 10% horizontal shift (left and right).
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