Artograph Tracer Projector

I'm giving this thing 5 stars because it works as expected and is great for hobbyists and small business. I am almost finished with a painting that I started using this thing. It is amazing for drawing accurate images. Don't listen to all the reviews about this thing running hot. Mine came with an energy efficient bulb, and I am soon going to replace it with a super bright LED bulb. Yes, it is dim with old incandescent bulbs, but why even bother with them when you can have 100W brightness with a cool LED or florescent bulb? You will need to work in a dark room to use this, just like any projector. If you're looking for a good deal, this is it. These sell at art stores for $120, and if you're into making backdrops, or murals, or just painting your kids walls, this thing works great. If you aren't willing to spend a few bucks to get a really good LED bulb, this will still work, but you will need to let your eyes adjust, especially if you are drawing or working on a canvas that isn't white. I STRONGLY urge you to buy a super bright LED bulb along with this. The brighter the better, within the wattage limits on this enlarger.The largest image you can copy from is a 5 inch by 5 inch picture. It sounds tiny, but all you have to do is get a picture or image you want to enlarge, and print it out using the computer to reduce it to a 5x5" picture. Grid your work out, and do one section at a time. I just finished an 8ft by 8ft backdrop using this method, and it worked great. I received a ton of compliments on the quality. If you have any questions about this thing, feel free to ask.

I'am a artist; and I find the Artograph Projector a most valuable tool...When I have a deadline of art work to produce to a client; I can't tell you how fast this item helps me meet these dates!!! I always heard about these projectors, but never thought I had any use for them, until I did some research on the topic>. And boy was I surprised> So much so that I entend to upgrade to the LED500 Art Projector; which is a beast!!!!! This one that I ordered was more or less a beginners trial run for me to see weather I liked it or not. In fact it has already made me more money than I could have imagine!!! I recently did a mural painting on a wall for a young lady's newborn baby's room. And im happy to say she was just crazy about it....so much so that she spread the word about my skills to some friends of hers, and now I've been commissioned to do three more!!!! In closing, I liked to say that all my orders came in the allotted time, and in excellent condition!!! Thank you so much, yours truly Roy Henderson......

Amazing product if you want to draw on a wall or on something big

I should have listened to the many negative reviews I read on Amazon and elsewhere. But, some reviews were favorable and I had high hopes as I was very eager to find something to enlarge photos and pictures for my artwork projects. This unit is definitely overpriced and it doesn't work. My package came with the bulb broken and when I opened the box, the bulb pieces (some very tiny) went flying everywhere. Talk about a mess to try to clean up!! Not happy about that. But, I did contact Amazon and they very graciously credited my account for a small portion to cover the bulb replacement. So, my first time to use this and I followed the directions to a "T". Very difficult to stabilize this unit and it must be used in a completely dark room ( I used a large dark closet). It took some figuring out, but I got my picture centered properly under it, But, and that's a very big But (no pun intended) it's absolutely impossible to focus this unit for any tracing except for a very fuzzy outside line and then I would have to be "guessing" even then. I am very disappointed that it doesn't work. I went online to find any kind of tutorials to help me figure out what, if anything, I might be doing incorrectly in my attempts to focus this unit. But, what I found, mostly, was a lot more negative reviews saying the exact same thing as I was experiencing. So, my opinion is this unit should be taken off the market. It is probably overpriced even if it did work. And, the company, at the very least should figure a different way to package this as almost every review I read said that the bulb was broken when they got their package. So, save your money, your time and your effort and don't even think you can try to get this thing to work properly....it won't. If I could have given zero stars, I would have. I should mention, the one good part of this purchase was that it shipped and arrived much quicker than stated and when I have had these problem issues, Amazon has been wonderful in helping me.

Not a bad projector, very straight forward...kind of primitive. Focus is controlled by sliding the black lens housing in and out, which is not exactly a precise method, so it takes some time to get the image as sharp as possible. The light is fairly weak, so you really need a dark room to get the level of detail you'll need if you're working on an intricate picture. Lens quality is okay.Pros: inexpensive, larger than average original picture size of 5" x 5", normal replacement bulb, lightweight (almost too lightweight--the power cable has the tendancy to cause the unit to slide on slick surfaces if the cable hangs)Cons: dim, so a dark room is necessary; if projecting onto a small canvas, like a 10"x12", to get it in focus you have to pull the lens housing almost all the way out of the projector, so it's almost hanging out and drooping--the option is to use a smaller original, but then you sacrifice detail for size; there's no way to project vertically down onto a work surface, unless you rig something--so it's horizontal onto a wall or vertical easelOverall: it's okay...if you want/need a cheap solution for occasional use it will work; if you're going to do a lot of reproduction work with a lot of detail and don't want to be restricted to working in near dark conditions, pay more and get a better projector--I got what I paid for and it works-- but I'm thinking I should have gotten a better one.