CMRA's S-I-L-V-E-R solution starts here: - Page 11

You can get a Whibal card, and then manually set the white balance on your camera for the current lighting conditions. This is true for what I'd consider mid-range and up point-and-shoot digital cameras, at least. You'd have to read your camera manual to see (1) if it does it, and (2) the procedure to manually set the white balance using a reference (like the Whibal cards). Just google "Whibal" and you'll learn all you need to know.

Thanks, mech. That definitely looks better.

That would be harpmaker my good man!

mech

I think the culprit lies in not enough paint. The pictures may show a nice even surface with little texture, but to the naked eye you could make out patches or dots of silver particulate. I've sprayed an additional 4 coats, paying special attention to being 12 inches away, overlapping properly and slowing down a bit. I re-evaluated King Kong and was very surprised. Maybe the improvement is in my head, but as long as I perceive an improvement that's all that matters to me.

Keep in mind, this has absolutely no scientific bearing and no evidence to support it, but my theory is that since the silver metalic flakes were grouped unevenly, those groups were 'shining' (or hotspotting) ever so slightly as to overpower the rest of the screen where the silver flakes were less distributed. Now that the flakes are more evenly applied, the whole screen shines together. It appears that my misty problems are gone, along with some of the graininess. I still see some sparkly/hotspotty stuff in bright areas, such as a bright blue sky. I'm going to apply 1 or 2 additional coats and get some shots for comparison... even though my skills with a camera seem to be even worse than my paint sprayer skills... if you can imagine that

Oooops...thanks harpmaker!

No worries! Glad it helped.

I believe I'm finished. At this point I really have no choice since we just got the new carpet installed and if I even look at the paint sprayer now, my wife may very well make me sleep in the garage. All told, I think I put on about 18-20 light coats, but I'll admit that the first 10 were so light they probably equated to about 3 effective coats. I painted up a small strip of MDF with just primer to have something to compare, spring-clamped it to the screen and when I pulled it off the next morning I had a chunk of the MDF stuck to my screen Had to scrape and spot sand the little bitch and try to blend it in. Turned out ok. I occaisionally notice a small spot that looks dirty at the very top of the screen. Only even comes into play if the media is 16:9 anyway.

I'm sure I could have put down another coat or two, but I'm happy with where it is now. Some things seem to get kind of misty (darker scene with, say, a lamp in the corner) but that could be a combination of the projector, calibration and screen.

It is really quite amazing when you watch a movie and actually forget to look for problems, how stunning it actually is. That's one thing I've noticed abundantly on these forums. Way too many guys getting lost in the minutia of tweaking this, analyzing that, taking tests and comparisons and reading thousands of posts and never really enjoying this expensive-ass hobby.

I think I'll go watch a movie now. Maybe I'll plug in some of my sorry-ass screenies later in the week!

Well said by the guy who sprayed on 20 coats!

I forgot to mention the 5 primer coats too
Yes, I too got caught in the details

Devon, thanks for the update. What is wrong with your screenies?

Not sure. I just suck with a camera apparently. They just look crappy. I have a tripod and I zoom in etc, but the pics seem skewed somehow. The top of the pic looks arched, everything looks fuzzier than the actual image on screen etc. Just gotta practice and play with camera settings I guess. I posted a couple shots earlier in this thread, so you can see what I mean.

CMRA,
Could you summarize one more time what the difference in the ingredients is between S-I-L-V-E-R vs SilverHG.
Thanks

Is the application the same? For some reason I thought I read where one was easier to apply than the other.
Thanks

shouldnt' be a difference. They're both a beeotch to apply if you're inexperienced with a sprayer. But once you finally get it right, the results are amazing.

Amazing?

Really?

CMRA how would you say the screen compares to commercial offerings? I'm ready to get my hands a little dirty.

I currently own both a gray wolf II and a high power, but I cannot justify another 600 bucks to 2.35 at 120 inches wide.


I am a little excited that you report gain in your screen.

I love what you did with the screen.

I have a Benq W10000 proj with a current 110" 16x9 Screen Goo CRT White screen - the colors are great- but it lacks pop.
Plus I wanted to go to 10' wide 2.35 screen.
Would you recommend the Silver?
Also is it as simple as mixing:
1/2 gallon Behr Faux Glaze
+
4 oz. Delta Ceramcoat Silver Metallic from Michael's Arts & Crafts
(Substituted for the darker Behr Silver Metallic)
+
20 oz. Filtered Water

and applying?
Can I use a roller instead of a sprayer (trying to keep cost down)?
Do I need to primer as I currently have Screen Goo white on the screen?

thanks,
Jon

No rolling.... spray only.
Your formula is correct, but should be distilled water.
can't comment on the Goo vs Primer.

CMRA,

Would you mind editing the #1 post in this thread with the current formula to preemptively answer that two most common questions?

What is the correct proportion of ingredients and application technique?
Is spraying necessary?

These two questions are answered many times within this thread, and the original thread. I know the answers only through reading 100's and 100's of posts. If the original post contained the answers, more people would be inclined to try the technique.

I am looking for a light gray screen with about 1.4 gain. I have a Mit 4900 and would like to up the gain for a larger screen and improve blacks. I should have the projector next week and would appreciate some advice from someone with similar situation where they were looking to add some gain and to improve blacks, this will give me 14-16FL.

This is difficult reading for me, guess I am too tired and will try reading some more tomorrow. I understand the the recommended starting point is a neutral gray and adjust from there. However, reading about all the additives and adjustments confuses me. I believe you can continue to paint the screen by adding coats (metallic/polypaints) to the gray base achieve the desired results? Is that correct? Appreciate the confirmation that I am on the right track.

Starting point:
Kilz2
Behr~N8
Lamp Black 0 10 1
Brown Oxide 0 2 0
Medium Yellow 0 1 0
Then see what I looks like and possibly....add metallic paint polypaints... add gain and soften it... till it is just right. Is this the process?

Thanks.

I found Tiddler's video, this doesn't look too bad?!! Although I am planning to spray my screen, the video confirms the basic coating procedure of the different materials and the appearance when applied. Any suggestions on formulas to achieve the desired screen ? It looks like a gook Kills II base and Rust-oleum – High Heat “Silver” (spray paint) may be the ticket (as seen in Tryg's thread).

Also, I found a lightly used hvlp sprayer at Amazon for half price... we'll see how lightly used it is in a week.

Tiddler, give that baby a bottle!!!! You can hear a baby crying in the background. Thanks for your video!

Do you know why kids dislike it when Santa is no longer around? Because they prefer his presents!!