Imax projector how does it work

For starters, each projector balances and aligns itself, so the pictures are never out of whack. Then there's the image enhancer -- a mysterious piece of tech that Blair describes as "like the best graphics card money can buy.

It's an independent system which they've developed, and it emphasises the picture. Technicians can't manually adjust the projector settings, but if anything goes wrong, IMAX technicians are reachable via a black phone, perched on a nearby stool.

Unlike projectionists who work with film, no special training is required to run an IMAX projector. The entirely digital set-up means that both Blair and Warburton learnt on the job.

In fact, the sense of movement is so strong that it makes some people feel nauseous. To fill the gigantic screen with a clear image, the films are recorded and printed on huge film stock that is unique in the film industry. Most of the movies you see in a theater have a size of 35 millimeters. The frame is 35 millimeters wide and almost square.

But movie screens are not square — they are very wide for their height. The wide image is thus compressed to the 35 millimeter frame and enlarged by the projector to fill the screen. Some theater films have a size of 70 millimeters. This format offers about double the resolution and the frame is of course the width of the screen, so there is no compression. It is many times larger than the screen at a normal movie theater. Domes can be up to 30 meters in diameter. The film feeds in from the top of the projector.

A claw or sprocket arrangement advances the film one frame and holds it steady in front of the light. A shutter opens and lets light shine through the film and lens onto the screen for a fraction of a second.

The film moves through it horizontally rather than vertically. A vacuum system sucks each image onto a piece of glass in front of the lens so that the image is oriented perfectly in front of the lens.

The shutter opens for a longer period of time than on a normal projector in order to let more light through. The bulb for the projector is a 15,watt, water-cooled xenon unit. Cite This! Print Citation. The camera used in IMAX has a much larger frame and hence increases the resolution.

For increasing the image area the sound track of the IMAX is recorded separately in another film and is synchronized with the main film. A separate 6 channel 35mm magnetic film which converts directly to analog is used for this purpose.

For producing high quality 3D effects, the speakers in IMAX theaters are placed directly behind the screen and around the theater. Conventional 70mm projectors are not able to produce x magnification. IMAX projectors are pin stabilized which makes the film stable and ensures perfect alignment. The shutter speed of the projector is 20 times faster than the conventional projector and produces a brighter source of light. The light is produced from xenon short arc lamps made of fused quartz and xenon gas at a pressure of 25 atmospheres.

The personals operating this projector should be skilled and must wear thick body armor while handling it. The quartz crystals and the xenon gas that produces the light could break easily and hurt the operator. All these projectors use the 70mm format.