Panamorph UH480 User Manual and Installation Guide, Version 1.7, copyright February, 2011, all rights reserved.
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INTRODUCTION
Thank you for purchasing the Panamorph UH480 lens system – the world’s leading model
anamorphic lens system designed to dramatically enhance today’s high performance 16:9
projectors when showing the true widescreen aspect ratio of most major motion pictures.
The UH480 lens system includes the UH480 Lens and MTH1 manual transport (or optionally
the ATH1 automated transport upgrade) to provide the optimum performance when viewing all
widescreen content. The MTH1 and ATH1 transports can be mounted to your ceiling, to an
improvised ceiling structure, or to a pre-engineered AKPro Panamorph Attachment Kit (AK)
sold separately. However, due to the very simple Plug-and-Play procedure they offer, use of
these kits will be the focus of this installation guide.
UH480 BASIC PROJECTION PARAMETERS
Throw Distance
(distance from projector lens to screen)
This distance should be between 12 and 21 feet (3.6M and 6.5M) with the
standard UH480 lens with an ideal range of 14.5 to 17.5 feet (4.4M to 5.3M) for the
highest pixel level clarity, especially for video applications at 1080 resolution. If your
projection system involves a significantly higher throw distance then we recommend
purchasing an optional correction element (see
www.panamorph.com
) if you need
graphic level performance.
Throw Ratio
(ratio of throw distance to 16:9 native image width)
This ratio primarily affects image distortion. To minimize the amount that the
image edges bow inward a throw ratio of at least 1.6 is recommended.
If some distortion is acceptable, the large aperture of the UH480 will generally
work with a throw ratio as low as 1.3 as long as the beam passes through the lens
unobstructed. Due to increased distortion and the potential of non-uniform image
brightness (hot spotting) at very low throw ratios, you may wish to consider a curved
screen in such cases to help compensate for these artifacts.
Image/Lens Shift
Using horizontal lens/image shift other than for fine adjustments is not
recommended due to keystoning which can be amplified by the UH480. Vertical lens
shift does not impact the use of the UH480. However, note that with vertical lens shift
the UH480 should be tilted to face the approximate center of the screen to make any
residual pincushion distortion symmetric at the top and bottom of the image.
A NOTE ON YOUR SCREEN FORMAT
The UH480 system works very well with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio screen. However, if you are
considering a new screen we actually recommend an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 for the best all
around fit. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio is somewhat of a film industry designation for many aspect
ratios
around
2.35:1 and may include many titles up to 2.40:1 and occasionally higher.
Consequently, by following these installation instructions we will help you optimize your
constant height imaging performance for all three primary aspect ratios of 16:9, 1.85:1 and the
general range of 2.35:1-2.40:1.
