Trying to determine what type of projector to use? The first thing you need to look at is the projector's Lumens. Lumens is an industry standard term that basically describes how much light a projector can put on screen and in turn, how bright the images appear on the screen. So how do you tell how bright a projector is? That can be a little complicated.
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There is a standard for determining a projector's brightness called ANSI Lumens. An ANSI Lumen rating uses an average of several brightness measurements taken across the face of the light source. The problem is there is no requirement for any manufacturer to use this specification.
So how many Lumens are right for your application? A good rule of thumb is if it's too bright you can turn it down, but you can't turn it up if it's not bright enough, at least not without sacrificing image size. So, the simple answer is, that depends. But to start with getting the brightest projector, for the budget, is a good place to start. Obviously, there will be other considerations like screen size, black levels, shadow detail, and color accuracy to name a few. All of this is determined by the intended use of the projector.
Today's projectors produce light in three different ways ' lamps, lasers, and LED. In this article, we're going to take you through the advantages and disadvantages of each technology as well as help you understand which light source could better complement the environment that the projector is going to be installed.
The oldest projector light source still in use today, is the lamp. Metal halide and UHP (Ultra High Performance) are the two types of lamps most commonly used. Metal halide lamps use a combination of rare earth metal salts and mercury vapor to deliver light. Mercury lamps produced a really bright light but have a significant downside. Because of the mercury, there is a high cost of operation and there can be disposal issues.
The UHP lamp, created by Philips, was designed to be a more efficient alternative to metal halide lamps. They provide similar brightness with lower energy consumption and the UHP lamps produce a lot of light and are more affordable. The downside is their effective brightness degrades from day one, which means a UHP projector will never be as bright as the first time you turn it on.
Also, lamps generate a lot of heat and thus require cooling, which requires more space, increasing the projector's size, number of cooling fans, and the amount of noise. Lamps have the shortest life span of all the lighting solutions available today and the simple act of turning the projector on and off diminishes the lamp's operating life.
So why would you recommend a lamp as a light source projector? It comes down to cost and light quality. As we mentioned, lamp-based systems are less expensive but have the shortest life. Lamps could be the choice if the projector is not being heavily used. For example, where the projector is only being used for an hour or two each day, the lamp's reduced initial hardware costs can make it a better value.
While lamps are less expensive than LED or laser light sources, they are still an excellent light source. This is why they are still utilized in many higher-end home theater projectors from companies like JVC and Sony. Producing the same quality light as a bulb requires high-power RGB LED or multi-channel laser light source, which still commands a premium.
As the price of better LED and laser light sources comes down, lamps will eventually be phased out. It's likely just a matter of time.
There are several benefits shared by all projectors that use lasers as a light source. First, laser-based light engines turn on within seconds of pressing the power button. There is no time wasted waiting for a lamp to warm up or cool down. Old mercury lamps can be damaged if unplugged before the cooling-down period ends.
Laser-based light engines are incredibly reliable, lasting anywhere from 20k to 30k hours, and are mostly maintenance-free. Chances are, you would need to replace the entire projector long before the laser light engine fails.
Laser light engines are incredibly bright compared to lamps and most LED-based light systems, so they would typically be the best option for projecting on large surfaces. There are typically three types of laser-light engine designs used by today's projector manufacturers.
Most laser projectors utilize the least expensive solution, which is a single blue laser diode array that provides the blue light and excites a yellow phosphor color wheel. Filters are then used to break up the yellow into red and green elements.
For higher brightness, some projectors use a dual blue laser light engine. One blue laser ultimately hits phosphor wheels to generate red and yellow beams, while the other blue laser handles the solely the blue component.
For improved color reproduction, another laser light configuration combines a red LED and a blue laser that uses a phosphor chip or a color wheel to generate green light. These hybrid laser projectors out-perform lamp-based projectors in brightness while delivering superior color and long life.
The best solution is to utilize multiple RGB lasers instead of a phosphor wheel and filters to create clean primary colors. Multi-channel laser light engines tend to produce a wider color gamut, making them a perfect choice for installations that require color accuracy in their displayed content.
In addition to much more accurate colors, because red, green, and blue light is produced by different lasers, a wider color gamut is also possible. Since the RGB laser wavelengths are specifically chosen to optimize the primary colors of red, green, and blue, a RGB laser projector has the ability to reproduce DCI-P3 or even the Rec. color gamut without the need for a color filter.
Discrete RGB laser light engines are considered to be the best projector light source available, but this performance comes at a price. Laser projectors tend to be physically larger than other types of projectors and are also very expensive. These systems offer the best brightness, so for installations requiring a huge projection screen, this would be the best solution.
LED light engines use inorganic LED light-sources in place of a consumable lamp. Like laser light sources, LED light engines are also highly reliable and can offer up to 20,000 hours of use with no maintenance needed resulting in lower-cost operations. LED light sources are mercury-free and can power off and on quickly, even compared to laser light engines.
How an LED Light Engine WorksUsing LED as a light source has been growing in popularity, mainly due to their small size, low heat, and affordability. Traditionally LED light engines are found in smaller, more portable projectors like a PICO projector. What PICO projectors lack in Lumens output is more than made up for in their size, power consumption, and portability. In some cases, PICO projectors can fit in a briefcase, purse, or even a pocket.
Although historically LED's light output was far less than lamp and laser-based projectors, things are changing. Developers of high-output LED lights, like OSRAM, Samsung, and others, have made remarkable strides in increasing the Lumens of the LED light engines. These next generation LED lights can generate up to lumens of light output.
Starting in , high Lumen, discrete RGB LED light engines are finding their way into projectors. Discrete RGB LEDs create red, green, and blue light. High-speed LED switching takes the place of the color and phosphor-wheels commonly found in DLP projectors to display each color at a frequency impossible to achieve mechanically. Since a wheel is not required, the noise produced is reduced and reliability is increased. RGB LED produces deeper, richer colors than comparable technologies for pure white reproduction and less DLP "rainbowing" (color breakup).
Business and education installations will value the performance and color accuracy of RGB LED-based light engines. These projectors are perfect for classroom and conference room type environments able to produce laser competitive colors, reliability, and, with the exception of brightness, do it at a lower price.
Just like laser light engines, LED light engines can and do have alternate configurations just as listed in hybrid laser light engines.
Wanting to utilize laser, hybrid, and LED as light sources make sense, especially since they're often rated for 20,000 hours and higher. These projectors also require virtually no maintenance. However, the total cost over the lifetime of a UHP lamp projector can't be beaten. Having to spend a little extra (likely less than $200) every few years might be worth it, depending on the application.
Lumens are quite possibly the most important feature on a projector. If your digital projector doesn't have enough lumens you can forget about having a quality image, or even being able to see your video at all!
In this piece we'll answer the question, 'How many lumens are good for a projector?' Below you'll find a guide with pictures that will give you an idea of how many lumens you need for different venues and how big of a projection screen to use.
You can also use our recommended projector lumens chart by screen size.
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Before we talk about how many lumens you need for your projector, we first need to talk about what is a lumen.
Lumens (lm) are the SI-based unit that measures luminous flux (the electromagnetic waves that the human eye can see). In other words a lumen is a measurement of brightness coming from a light source. This could be the sun, a flashlight, or of course a projector.
Lumens are to light, what gallons are to milk or pounds are to meat.
When you hear the term projector lumens, this is the unit of measurement that tells you how bright a projector is.
Now, when it comes to projectors, not all lumens are created equal.
Lumens tell you the brightness the projector's lamp is able to produce. But this is only half the story.
In practice the light from the projector lamp diminishes significantly before it's projected onto the screen. On average only 30% of the light source's output actually reaches the screen.
Some cheap projector manufacturers will only advertise the lumen output of the light source to mislead customers about how bright their beamers are. They may advertise a budget projector as having lumens, but in fact the actual light output is only 750 lumens.
That's where ANSI lumens come in.
ANSI Lumens are a unit, defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), that measures the overall amount of light delivered by a projector. Not just the lamp's light output.
An ANSI lumen measures the brightest white that the projector can output. It is measured by taking meter readings on a projected 100% white image. The projected area is divided into 9 zones using a 2° or less light meter. You then average the measurements together and the number you get is the ANSI lumens of a projector. This number tells you the maximum brightness that the projector can actually produce on a cinema screen.
The value of ANSI lumens is that they are a standard manufacturers can use that allows consumers to honestly know the real amount of usable brightness their projector can produce. For the purpose of brevity in this article (and pretty much everywhere else on ProjectorScreen.com) when we refer to 'lumens' we are implying 'ANSI lumens'
You might think that the lumens of a projector is all you need to know if your projector is bright enough. But the projector is only half of the equation. There's also your projector screen. Your projection screen surface can be just as important as your projector.
What tells you how bright your image is going to be is called System Foot-Lamberts
Foot-Lamberts (ftL) are the unit of measure used by the motion picture industry to specify how much light should be reflected off the movie screen in a 1-foot x 1-foot area.
The System Foot-Lamberts is the calculation that takes into account the picture created by the projector and the screen together and tells you if your image will be bright enough.
There are three things that impact a projection system's Foot-Lamberts
The brighter the projector the more light in the system. Screen size impacts the system Foot-Lamberts because the larger the image is the more spread out the light will be. The 3rd factor is screen gain.
You might be asking 'what is screen gain?' As an oversimplification, screen gain measures the reflective properties of a cinema screen. The higher the gain, the brighter the image
Together these three factors together dictate the system Foot-Lamberts.
You can use our handy projector calculator to tell you if you have enough system Foot-Lamberts for your projection setup.
System Foot-Lamberts aren't the only thing that impacts how bright of a projector you need. Another factor you'll need to consider is the ambient light in your room. Ambient light affects the image on your screen because it can overpower the light from your projector, causing your picture to look washed out.
If you have a room with lots of windows, or if you want to have the lights on while you're projecting, you'll need to get a brighter projector to overpower all the extra light. The other option you have is to buy an ambient light rejecting projector screen.
As the name implies and ambient light rejecting projection screen allows the light from your projector to reflect off the screen to the viewers while rejecting the light coming from other sources. Some of these screens use angular reflectivity to reflect unwanted light away from the viewer. Other ALR screens are specially engineered to have tiny angled rows of teeth like a zipper that only reflect the light from the projector back to the viewer while absorbing the ambient light that hits the screen.
Another factor that affects how bright of a projector you'll need is the usage purpose. If you plan to only watch movies in the dark with a home theater projector you won't need as bright of a projector. But if you plan to have a business projector to make presentations, you'll want to make sure the projector will be bright enough to leave the lights on.
When someone asks, 'Is lumens enough for a projector?' our response is always the same. 'Maybe.' There are many factors that go into having enough lumens for a projector that it's impossible to give a definitive answer without knowing more about what, where, how and when you plan to use your projector.
Below is a general guide from our projection experts about the amount of lumens needed for different scenarios.
Below are a few examples of the typical required lumen output for different types of rooms for a screen up to 120' with a neutral surface gain of 1.0.
As we mentioned, each projection scenario is unique. Your projector lumen needs may vary based on your planned setup.
Below is a lumens chart that can tell you how many lumens and Foot-Lamberts you'll need for various size projector screens. Again, this projector lumen chart is just a general guideline for how much brightness you'll need.
If you're not confident about how many lumens you'll need from your projection setup give us a call at 888-392-. You'll speak to a real expert, who can give you advice to find the best projector for your needs.
Screen Size (Inches) 16x9
100
120
150
180
200
250
300
Lumens
500
16.85
11.70
7.49
5.20
4.21
2.70
1.87
800
26.96
18.72
11.98
8.32
6.74
4.31
3.00
33.68
23.40
14.97
10.41
8.42
5.39
3.74
50.52
35.10
22.45
15.62
12.64
8.09
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5.61
84.20
58.51
37.44
26.00
21.06
13.48
9.36
101.04
70.21
44.93
31.20
25.28
16.18
11.23
117.88
81.91
52.42
36.40
29.49
18.87
13.11
134.73
93.61
59.91
41.60
33.70
21.57
14.98
151.57
105.31
67.40
46.80
37.91
24.26
16.85
168.41
117.01
74.88
52.00
42.13
26.96
18.72
202.09
140.42
89.86
62.40
50.55
32.35
22.47
235.77
163.82
104.84
72.80
58.98
37.74
26.21
269.45
187.22
119.81
83.20
67.40
43.13
29.96
303.13
210.62
134.79
93.60
75.83
48.53
33.70
336.81
234.03
149.77
104.00
84.25
53.92
37.44
336.81
280.83
179.72
124.80
101.10
64.70
44.93
505.56
351.04
224.65
156.01
126.38
80.88
56.17
ftL
Viewing
0-15
Not bright enough
16-26
Good for dark room
27-39
Good for low ambient light
40-59
Good for medium ambient light
60+
Good for high ambient light
160+
Possibly too bright
This projector lumens chart assumes that you will use a matte white screen with a screen gain of 1. If you're using a screen with a different gain such as .8 or 1.5, simply multiply the Foot-Lamberts by the screen gain.
Different types of projectors age in their own way.
For bulb projectors, the lamp looses brightness the more it's used. This leads to a lower light output over time. Most projector bulbs last for around 4,000 hours before they need to be replaced. If you're planning to get a bulb based projector, you'll want to factor this degradation in lumens over time since a new lamp might be bright enough when you buy it but after only 1,000 hours it may not be.
With regards to LED and laser projectors, the light source maintains a consistent brightness for up to 25,000 hours. This is why for most churches and businesses we recommend getting a laser projector to reduce maintenance.
Because they're projecting on a huge screen, movie theater projectors need to be extra bright. A typical commercial movie theater projector ranges between 40,000-60,000 lumens. The IMAX projector's xenon arc lamp is capable of 600,000 lumens. That's roughly how bright the sun looks from earth.
Source: Brian RoemmeleIf your projector doesn't have enough lumens (more importantly, if you don't have enough system foot-lamberts) the image on the screen will look dull and washed out. This of course creates a horrible movie watching experience. Make sure you shop for a projector that is bright enough for your image size and ambient lighting situation.
Yes, it is possible to have a projector with too many lumens for your setup.
With regards to brightness, the more common issue is not having a bright enough projector as opposed to having one with too many lumens.
The reason for this is that if your projector is too bright you can always lower the brightness in the settings menu. This is why it's better to get a projector that can fire off more lumens than you need.
But don't get a projector that way brighter than you need.
There are a few reasons why you don't want to get a projector that's too bright. These include:
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