IMAX with laser: Superb contrast, 4K resolution, and huge color gamuts

IMAX

The beastly new dual-projector IMAX with laser system.

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LONDON—At the Empire cinema in Leicester Square this morning, IMAX unveiled Europe's first "IMAX with laser" digital projection system. As the name implies, the main difference is that laser-based IMAX uses a laser light source, rather than a stupendously powerful (15kW) xenon arc lamp. This results in a brighter, sharper picture, along with a wider colour gamut and blacker blacks. The first film to be projected via lasers will be The Walk, starting tomorrow. Perhaps more excitingly, both the upcoming Bond film Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be shown on the IMAX with laser screen at the Empire cinema.

First things first: IMAX with laser looks really, really good. I'm not a member of the digital projectionist guild, but as a professional photographer and keen cinema-goer, I consider myself qualified enough to say that IMAX with laser is a cut above the state-of-the-art digital projectors that you'll find in most cinemas. The demo videos I watched showed impressive sharpness, contrast, and dynamic range.

On the projection side of things, IMAX with laser (boy is that name clunky) is powered by two side-by-side 4K projectors, which use "sub-pixel alignment" to produce one big image (or two images in the case of 3D projection). IMAX said that the new projection system is capable of up to 60 FPS, but we were only shown demos at 24 FPS. IMAX, as you'd expect, wouldn't give out any exact figures for brightness, contrast, or colour space—instead, the company offered up comparisons:

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