Leica, a company that mainly deals with photography, introduced its first ultra-short-throw (UST) projector called the Cine 1. The company claims that its projector will be able to show 80- or 100-inch pictures. It was also announced that it can be as little as six inches from a wall.
For some people, it seems unusual when a company that produces cameras suddenly decides to release a projector. However, there is nothing unusual here. UST models need precision optics to produce the right image. And that’s exactly what Leica specializes in.
They’re going to use a Summicron lens. The company said that they made it to Leica standards and used aspherical elements to create it. Also among the specifications stated triple RGB laser with a lifetime of 25,000 hours and a DLP chip from Texas Instruments.
Two versions of Cine 1 were presented. The first will be for an 80-inch screen and should be located 6 inches from the screen. The second version will be able to deliver a 100-inch image and should be located at a distance of about 12 inches. The manufacturer recommends using them with these parameters for the best image quality.
Also together with the projectors, Leica announced 80- and 100-inch screens, that reflect ambient light (ALR). Their declared brightness is 2,100 lumens for the 80-inch, and 2,500 lumens for the 100-inch models.
Sound will be provided by a Dolby Atmos audio system with surround sound. It will come with a TV tuner for linear TV and HiSense’s VIDAA OS as a platform for smart TV. There will also be available HDMI and USB connectors.
No info on pricing or exact delivery time yet. The company said it will be available in the US in the second quarter of 2023. So for now users just have to wait for more announcements from Leica.
