No Lens Shift = Size 16 Shoe...

Amen...

Just upgraded from a Sanyo z2 (which died a peaceful death after 8 years of use) to the Panasonic 7000. Lens shift was probably the only true must have followed by other nice to haves...

The range of lens shift does vary a bit between models. Just cannot imagine not having the placement flexibility.

The Epson 3010's lack of lens shift is sort of a queer duck since most LCD projectors offer some degree of lens shift. And this is especially strange when you find this feature one step up in the Epson 5010 model. I understand what you're saying in regard to the large vertical offset some of the budget DLP projectors have, they just don't work for some HT rooms.

Well it seems pretty much agreed that the 3010 needs to be ceiling mounted. A fair number of people want to ceiling mount, though.

It's called ceiling mounting. An epson 3010 is pretty similar to 5010 though the 5010 is said to have better blacks and also lens shift. The 3010 is 1600.00 the 5010 is 2600.00. A ceiling mount is 15 bucks.

I'd rather get the 3010 and save 985 bucks. At any rate, I'd probably ceiling mount the 5010 anyways.

Obviously these projectors with very small offsets are meant to be ceiling mounted otherwise the projector would have to be around chest height (while sitting) for a picture that's comfortable to view.

The optoma hd33, according to projector central calculator has an 8in offset at 12 feet and almost 1ft offset at 18ft. This would probably be a better bet if you don't want to ceiling mount. The epson would be the better buy if you don't want to have a projector on a table and would rather ceiling mount.

Sure it'd be great to have lens shift and be able to put the projector anywhere but it adds a significant increase to the price. And I'm not planning on moving my projector once it's mounted.

I have a Viewsonic Pro8200 with a 16.8% offset and I don't ceiling mount
It's shelf mounted at just over 8 feet high. The Epson 3010 has a 0 offset, so it can be shelf mounted in most setups around 7 feet high depending on how high off the floor your screen is, as well as the overall screen size.

Placement flexibility is nice to have for sure, but it's definitely not required. You can install a simple $40 glass wall shelf for many DLP's, or you can buy taller wire shelves like at Walmart ($70) and then just build a custom mount or place the DLP on a box-like object on the top of the shelf.

I have both a JVC w/ lens shift and a DLP with no lens shift and a huge offset, I switch projectors around somewhat often, so I decided this time to go with a wire shelf setup over the traditional ceiling mounts. It is much easier for me to install a projector, and I can fit 3-4 projectors at once in the same shelf if I am comparing them (maybe even more). I also keep all the A/V equipment on the bottom shelf, it's not the prettiest setup, but it doesn't look bad by any means.

The 3010 is my first projector I've ever owned, have the vapex 120 tab tension electric screen with my projector ceiling mounted. Took about 2 hrs to mount everything and be up and running. I'm one of those humans that made due without it! It was extremely simple and very straight forward.

Edit: I'm using 0 keystone correction on either the V or H

I don't own my own home so I view lens shift as a requirement for when I move. Vagabond life style for at least 3 more years.

You're right, $985 just for lens shift is not worth it considering the 3010/5010 are the same exact projector otherwise.

I just get out the sledge hammer if the room is too small. I know nothing about construction but I worry about the holes later

Haha... I'm the same way! I made a couple new holes mounting all this. Tried my best to be nice and neat of course and in the end it worked out pretty darn good.

The flexibility is useful to keep the mount location the same as you change projectors. I personally will buy lens shift over moving the mount location...

The Epson 3010 can't be shelf mounted 7' high. It could be hung upside down with a ceiling mount from a 7' high shelf. The 0 offset means the lens it at the height of the bottom of the screen when it is on a shelf, it needs to be inverted if you align it with the top of the screen.

People make a big deal about lens shift and having done this for MANY year back to the CRT days it is really not a big deal. There are some projectors that simply won't fit a given situation and if a projector doesn't work for your situation find one that does. A lot of people research every other aspect of the projector to find the one that best suits their needs but seem to overlook this aspect.

If you get to the pricier projectors most will have lens shift and some will have interchangeable lenses for different throws. At a more entry level there will be limitations on throw and offset.

For instance we just had a customer deciding between a JVC and Epson as both had attributes they preferred and their was no clear cut winner for them when demoing. When we did an onsite eval it was clear the JVC wouldn't have enough offset tom be mounted against the ceiling wiht his tall ceilings. If they went with the JVC we would have to hang the projector further down from the ceiling. They thought that would be obtrusive so they went with the Epson.

Not every projector is going to have every feature you want. Get one that works for your situation. If you do get a PJ without lens shift I suggest a decent mount that has up/down and side to side adjustability. It makes aligning it perfectly much easier than a regular mount which only does pitch, roll and yaw.

Hi Bob,

You don't need a ceiling mount to shelf mount a projector that is by default only ceiling mountable. There are many ways to do it, I have done this many times before. You can just take a board or some rubber stoppers, it takes 5 minutes to turn it into a shelf mountable projector (1 hour worst case if it's trickier). Yes it will be upside down, but that is irrelevant after the DIY mount is affixed (and there are even commercial solutions to this problem as well). I am aware of what the offset means.

You can definitely just use the shelf as the mount, sorry didn't know that's what you meant when you said wall shelf.

I wish bb stocked the 5010 but they never seem to have it, had to get the 3010, coming from a sanyo with crazy lenshift it kind of sucked having to line everything up perfectly.. i almost did, im about 3 inches to far on one side but overall it wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be.