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When you decide on a projector, the first thought is “How many lumens do I need for a projector?”. Lumens serve as an important feature of a projector. It acts as a unit that determines the brightness level of your projector.
If you’re new to buying a projector, it can get confusing for you to decide the amount of lumens you need. To ease your confusion, we have developed a detailed guide that will help you evaluate your lumens requirement.
Let’s begin!
What is Lumen in Projector?
While talking about lumens in projectors, we first need to know about the lumen:
What is Lumen?
Lumens is described as an SI unit that indicates the amount of visible light produced by a light source.
Basically, it indicates the brightness level of the source. In terms of projector, it indicates how bright the projector will be while projecting an image. We present you lumens of different light sources to have a clear idea:
- Candle: 14 lumens.
- Light Bulb: 1600 lumens.
- Sunset: 400 lumens.
- Fluorescent lighting in the office: 400 lumens.
- Lighting on a movie set: 1000 lumens.
- Sunny day: Almost 100,000 lumens.
Lumens vs ANSI Lumens
Even though lumens indicate the projector’s brightness level, it doesn’t tell you the brightness of the image on the screen. It is calculated that only 30% of light from a source reaches the screen.
So a projector having 2000 lumens, will produce around 800 lumens. But ANSI lumens indicate the total light produced by the projector. It is measured by the brightest white produced by a projector on the screen. ANSI lumens are considered to be more accurate and it is used by every projector manufacturer.
What is Projector Lumen?
When we talk about projector lumen, ANSI lumen has become the primary standard. Since it measures the brightness level at 9 points on the screen, it helps in providing accurate information. It highlights the maximum brightness that the projector can produce.
What Determines How Many Lumens You Need For a Projector?
How many lumens you need in your projector is not only determined by the light source. But also the System Foot Lamberts, Ambient Light, and projector screen surface. So we are going to talk about all these factors:
System Foot-Lamberts
Foot-Lambert serves as a vital factor when it comes to determining the lumens amount. This unit indicates the total amount of light that is reflected from a screen in a 1 X 1-foot area.
However, System Foot-Lamberts indicates the brightness level by considering the projector brightness, screen size, and screen gain. It also takes into account the image on the screen when determining the total brightness level.
The brightness of the projectors determines the total amount of light that will be projected. The Foot-Lambert is also determined by the total size of the image on the screen. As the image size increases, the Foot-Lambert measurement is also affected.
Another factor that also influences Foot-Lambert is the screen gain. A high-gain screen offers better brightness and vice versa. We have a calculator for System Foot-Lambert to help you understand what your required foot-lambert is
Ambient Light
Another factor that influences the amount of lumens you need in a projector is ambient light. The ambient light of the environment where you will set up the projector will impact overall brightness.
When you decide to set up the projector in a room with a lot of ambient light, you will need a high brightness. A high brightness level in the projector will help in countering the light and create a bright image output. You should try to minimize the light sources when setting up the projector in your home or office space.
Why Do Projector Lumens Matter?
Lumens serve as a vital unit that tells you about the total brightness level in the projector. Projectors are used in different environments with varied ambient light setups. Plus, the brightness level in the projector also influences the image quality of the projector. The color output and clarity of the image are highly affected by the brightness.
So the lumens serve as a crucial aspect of the projector. It tells how bright your images will be on a projector screen at a given setup. The higher the lumens figure the better will be the brightness level. While considering, you need to consider the color gamut coverage and overall color output of the projector.
Projectors with high color accuracy with low ANSI lumens can produce brighter images than others with low color output. The lumens measurement of your projector has a direct effect on the overall output your eyes will perceive.
How Many Lumens Do You Need for Your Projector?
When you buy a projector, various factors affect the total amount of lumens needed in your setup. It is always difficult to provide an exact answer to “How many lumens do I need in a projector?”.
However, there are average lumens measurements for different projectors for different situations. Today we will show the average range of lumens for various projector setups at a standard screen size and screen having 1.0 gain.
How Many Lumens Do We Need for a Home Theater?
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Home theater in a dark environment | 1000 to 2500 ANSI lumens. |
| Home theater is a decently lit room. | 2000 to 3500 ANSI lumens. |
| Home theater in a well-lit or living room. | 2500 to 5000 ANSI lumens. |
| Gaming projector | 2000 to 4000 ANSI lumens. |
| A projector in the backyard at night | 1500 to 4000 ANSI lumens. |
| Projector in the backyard with slight outdoor light | 3000 to 6000 ANSI lumens. |
| Golf simulator in a large room | 2500 to 5000 ANSI lumens. |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for an Outdoor Projector
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Outdoor movie setup with a super large screen | 10,000 to 15,000 ANSI lumens. |
| Outdoor movie setup with a large screen | 8000 to 10,000 ANSI lumens. |
| Projector for camping | 2000 to 3000 ANSI lumens. |
| Drive-in projector setup | 15,000 to 25,000 ANSI lumens. |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for an Office Projector
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Small conference room | 2000 to 5000 ANSI lumens. |
| Portable setup | 500 to 1500 ANSI lumens. |
| Meeting room with a huge capacity | 4000 to 8000 ANSI lumens. |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for Classroom or Auditorium
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Standard classroom | 3000 to 6000 ANSI lumens. |
| Lecture room | 4000 to 9000 ANSI lumens. |
| Large college auditorium | 8000 to 12000 ANSI lumens. |
| Standard school auditorium | 5000 to 10,000 ANSI lumens. |
| Playground or gymnasium | 8000 to 12,000 ANSI lumens. |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for a Church
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Sunday school | 2000 to 4000 ANSI lumens. |
| Small church area | 4000 to 7000 ANSI lumens |
| Medium church area | 5000 to 9000 ANSI lumens. |
| Large church area | 7000 to 16000 ANSI lumens. |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for a Government Institution
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Courtroom | 3000 to 5000 ANSI lumens |
| Town hall meetings | 3000 to 6000 ANSI lumens |
How Many Lumens Do We Need for a Convention Halls
| Setup | Lumens Range (ANSI) |
| Standard convention room | 4000 to 6000 ANSI lumens. |
| Medium-sized convention hall | 7000 to 10,000 ANSI lumens. |
| Full-sized convention hall | 12,000 to 24,000 ANSI lumens. |
Conclusion
Knowing the answer to “How many lumens do I need for a projector” can be a tricky task. Especially when you are new to buying a project as a lot of factors are considered. However, through this guide, we have tried to streamline the process.
We have put forward all the information including our System Foot-Lambert calculator to help you out. However, it is important that you shouldn’t go for too many lumens as it won’t be value for money.
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