The term Lumens pops out when you buy projectors either for home or office use. This affects extremely on how the output of the projector that you are buying to yourself. What are Lumens in a projector? How do they affect its performance? The Lumens are important as in overall performance and experience. Officially the Lumens provide the information how strong the source of light is. Down there is deep discussion about Lumens.
The performance is directly affected by the other sources of light that may halt the original source of the projector. When you search for the best projector there is one thing that you will come across that is Lumens. What does Lumens mean in projector? There are plenty of things to look at while buying a projector like device resolution and Lumens count.
What are Lumens?
A lumen is a very simple unit of measurement that describes how much light is produced by any type of light source, whether it is a projector, a bulb, a car headlight, or the sun. At the same time, the intensity of light, which is measured in Lumens, may vary from device to device depending on what is being used. Below is a list that will give you an idea of how many lumens each of these products has.
- Sun: up to around 100,000 Lumens
- Sunset 400 lumens
- Lighting in Cinema set: 1000 Lumens
- Lighting Bulb: 400 Lumens
- Candle: 14 Lumens
You might be thinking how much Lumens will be enough for you to get the best experience of your favourite show, but I am going to discuss that. There are basically three main sources of light in all kinds of light emitting devices, that is LED, laser and lamp. A typical lamp projector runs on 2000 Lumens while Laser projector provides better performance by providing up to 3500 Lumens.
As described earlier, laser projectors perform better than lamp projectors in each of these three cases. LED projectors have a maximum output of about 2000 lumens, the same as lamp projectors, but they have extra high quality image perception than lamp projectors. This is due to LEDs’ higher color contrast and saturation.
What is the prescribed brightness level for the projector?
When you are up for buying a projector and thinking of the best possible brightness level, being on budget is very important to notice. Definitely the higher the brightness the better the experience will be but the price factor is also very important to notice.
When it goes to brightness level there are multiple things that affect its level to deliver the best possible image. The two key factors that affect its brightness are Ambient light and Screen size. The ambient light is very important to handle if it is not it will damage the whole image. This is light explained as this specific type of light that is already present in the scene before and other lights and scenes added to screen. Its example is the light coming from the sun into the room via door or windows.
While using the projector outside will effect and require more Lumens to give the desired output at same time when using it inside that much brightness will not be required so for that purpose the 2000 to 4000 lumens is such a sweet slot which can fit in every situation. While seeing the size if the size of screen is bigger the more brightness will be required to meet the required results.
When it comes to home projector
Having the projector in home for indoor purposes with 300 Lumens will work really well in all lighting conditions. If you want a bigger screen definitely you will need to jump up to high Lumens that will lead to a high price point. If you keep using a low Lumens projector the whole process of viewing the picture will be worse, having distorted and ambient light.
Having Lumens above 3000 Lumens
There will be no difference in the image quality no matter the size of the screen, even if it is as large as 80 inches, with this many lumens. In this price point, we can see that while the projector may cost a little bit more than its competitors, it will still perform just as well as theirs up to a brightness of 3000 lumens even if it costs a little bit more.
Having Lumens less 3000 Lumens
3000 Lumens are not less. That will work pretty ok. 3000 means not 2000, that means it lies somewhere between 2500 to 3000 lumens that will still work good if the size of but smaller than 70 inches.
Summing up for both cases as I stated earlier that any number between 2000 and 4000 Lumens is very good for both cases either indoor or outdoor. But selecting 300 as average is very good for indoors but when you use this much outdoors and project on a bigger screen the quality may not be up to mark.
Projector for Different Platforms
They are actually used to transfer any type to a bigger screen that may vary from person to person according to their preference. Here are some common locations where and how to use the projector and get best results from Lumens and how much is required for best results.
For small spaces
Starting with small spaces that may be classrooms or meeting rooms they require 3000 to 4000 Lumens for really good performance. That could easily be adjusted on the screen size of 80” with a very clear image. This setup is great with the minimal lighting conditions.
For medium spaces
If you are going to use a projector in a middle sized room or in the middle size office meeting hall then 4000-5000 Lumens will be a great option for you to go with it. It will give best possible performance in terms of brightness and image quality. While using this you don’t need to be worried about any other sources of lights as it will output enough light to project an image.
For larger spaces
This setting is a master class that can beat any conditions with the best results used for the exhibition hall, conference halls, auditorium and anywhere where the huge audience is going to watch it. For that purpose 5000+ Lumens will be great. That will be the best hands down having the best saturated images and brightness level.
Summing Up
Lumens play a very vital role in the whole procedure of enjoying your favourite shows on the big screen. For that purpose the number of Lumens vary from place to place. If you are using it outside it will definitely require high brightness and better image quality. But at the same time when there is usage of a projector indoors it will work fine with a low number of Lumens.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I’d take any of the stated lumens that you see on a projector with a pinch of salt. This is especially true if you’re looking to get a projector off of Amazon or another cheap marketplace, because all sellers will just stick a big figure on their projector which actually isn’t representative of the amount of lumens that the projector has. the best size of lumens for outdoor minimum 3000 lumens. They are working properly.
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