There is provided a projector that uses a laser light source and is safe and realizes high brightness. The projector applies a laser beam emitted from a laser light source (101) to an image modulation device (105) and magnifies and projects an image formed in the image modulation device (105) by a zoom lens (106). The projector includes a control mechanism (108) for controlling the amount of energy of the light beam in response to a change in a focal distance of the zoom lens (106) in such a way that an energy density of the laser beam developed on a light emitting surface of the zoom lens (106) is kept at a specified value or smaller than the specified value. The specified value is the energy density of the laser beam in a case where the focal distance of the zoom lens (106) is set to the shortest value and is an accessible emission limit value (AEL value) that satisfies the laser safety class of the projector.