A document camera projector is a device used either with a document camera or built into a single unit with a document camera, in order to project images captured by the camera onto a screen or other viewing surface. These types of devices are often used in businesses for presentations and in classrooms by teachers looking for ways to make presentations with visual aids viewable by each student in a large class. A document camera projector will often allow for easy connectivity to a document camera, though it may also be able to connect to a computer or other device to project images.
There are a number of different manufacturers of document cameras and projectors, though most designs share certain elements in common. A document camera projector will usually connect to a document camera or be built into such a camera to allow for the projection of captured images onto a screen of some type. Document cameras are devices that allow an image, such as a picture or a page of text, to be captured by the camera and then displayed in real time onto a device or projected by a document camera projector onto a screen.
By using a document camera projector, the images captured by the camera can be projected onto a screen. Since the cameras capture images in real time, changes can easily be made to the document and will be projected as they happen. In this way, a document camera and projector could be used in a math classroom to allow a teacher to work on math problems on a sheet of paper. This work would be projected onto a screen for the entire classroom to see. This can be helpful since the teacher can use worksheets or homework in the same format that the students are expected to use, allowing proven practices and methods to be demonstrated for students more clearly.
Some types of document camera projector can even be connected to other types of devices, such as a computer or television, to project the images from the screen onto a larger screen. This can allow a single device to act as a projector for a number of different devices sometimes simultaneously, allowing a user to switch between devices with the press of a button. A projector like this can also be used for business presentations, allowing a person presenting materials through a computer presentation program to quickly switch to a document camera to demonstrate a real product, and then go back to the computer slide show.