At massive audiovisual conferences like ISE 2026, extreme projection is everywhere, from the large venues and expansive screens to immersive installations and rental setups built around impressive brightness. In this arena, 30,000-lumen projectors have been the top-end standard for years: immensely powerful, but typically also heavy, bulky, expensive, and logistically challenging to deploy.
Epson’s newly unveiled EB-XQ2030B is the company’s attempt to flip that expectation on its head. Billed as the world’s smallest and lightest 30,000-lumen 4K projector, it isn’t about pushing the envelope in terms of brightness capacity. Instead, it’s about making that level of brightness a lot more practical.
Epson
The brief for the EB-XQ2030B didn’t start in a lab; it came from the field. We spoke to Bruno Rost, a representative from Epson, who said that the projector was developed “following extensive feedback from many channel partners, especially in the events and staging market,” where moving, rigging, and redeploying high-brightness projectors is routine.
For these users, the goal was straightforward: maintain the image quality they’ve come to expect, while cutting down the cost and effort involved in transport, storage, and labor.
At the same time, Epson designed the projector with fixed installations in mind, too. Smaller size and lower weight means it’s easier to conceal the hardware in immersive spaces, visitor attractions, or architectural installations. This lets audiences focus on the experience itself rather than the tech behind it. In that sense, Epson is positioning 30,000-lumen projection as something more accessible than it’s been in the past, rather than something reserved for the biggest, most complex builds.
Epson
Skepticism is only natural here. Shrinking a projector this bright surely must involve a compromise or two. However, Epson’s answer is that this isn’t a shortcut or a compromise. Instead, it’s the result of years of refining how light and power are used inside its projectors. The EB-XQ2030B combines Epson’s 3LCD architecture with its 4K Crystal Motion system, backed by an Advanced Cooling Engine designed to sustain output without sacrificing reliability or image quality. The result doesn’t feel like a sudden leap; but instead, like years of cumulative engineering progress paying off.
A large part of this model’s flexibility comes from Epson’s new H Series range of lenses, which spans brightness levels from 6,000 to 30,000 lumens and covers throw ratios from 0.39 to 11:1. This includes short-throw and ultra-short-throw options designed for small venues, curved surfaces, and non-standard layouts.
For rental fleets, this flexibility means faster deployments and fewer compromises. For permanent installs, it opens the door to a lot more creative freedom in how and where projectors can be placed – including positions where they’d be virtually invisible to visitors.
Epson
That ability to hide the hardware is a recurring theme here. When projectors shrink and mounting options expand, the attention tends to shift back to the content rather than the equipment facilitating it.
Taking a step back, the EB-XQ2030B represents a subtle but important shift in projection. It delivers the same image quality that’s come to be expected from this class of projector, but with a much lighter logistical footprint: less transport, less storage, and less labor.
For both rental and fixed installations, the breakthrough isn’t about raw power. It’s about making that power quietly blend into the background.
Source: Epson
