Patent ID: 8608320

Claim:
A projector that applies a laser beam emitted from a laser light source to an image modulation device and that magnifies and projects an image formed in the image modulation device by a zoom lens, the projector comprising: a control device for controlling an amount of energy of the light beam in a response to a change in a focal distance of the zoom lens in such a way that an energy density of the laser beam developed on a light emitting surface of the zoom lens is kept at a specified value or smaller than the specified value, wherein the control device changes an output of the laser light source in the response to the change in the focal distance of the zoom lens so as to control the amount of energy of the light beam; and a zoom position detection section that detects a zoom position of the zoom lens, a size of the laser beam area on the light emitting surface of the zoom lens being calculated from information of the detected zoom position.