How to Determine How Many Lumens Your Projector Needs

Video projection screen.

The popularity of video projection continues to increase at home, at work and at church. However, video projectors are only a great thing if you can actually see what you are projecting. The brightness of the images displayed by a video projector is measured in lumens. Purchasing a video projector with an inadequate rating in lumens will only lead to disappointment. Higher lumens means better clarity and brighter images will appear on the screen. While there are complex formulas for calculating precise lumen needs, most applications just require a general understanding of the range of required illumination.

Things You'll Need

• Video projector
• Projection screen

Instructions

1. Measure the size of the video projection screen you will be using. Larger screens require higher lumen levels, while a screen less than 100 inches may do well with less than 1,500 lumens. This size screen is usually adequate for many business and most home applications. In a home theater setting, a larger-than-life screen may mean that the lumen total needs to be boosted above 2,000.

2. Inspect the light levels in the room where the video projector will be used. A darker room is always better for video projection; however, darkening a room may not make sense if other activities like taking notes or reading must occur at the same time. More ambient light means that more horsepower is needed in the projector. Combine this with a larger screen, and the number of lumens necessary can rise above 4,000 quickly. If projecting in a relatively dark setting, lumen levels of under 2,000 may be adequate even on a larger screen.

3. Measure the distance that the average viewer will be from the screen. Close seating will mean that even dim images may be easy to see, whereas people sitting 10 or 15 rows away may be hard pressed to pick up details on a smaller screen. In large spaces, high lumen levels are required: A building seating more than 200 people needs a video projector at 5,000 lumens or higher.

4. Get samples of the type of material that will be most often projected. Movies will require less lumens than charts and graphs with lots of data. Anything with a high level of detail should be projected with plenty of lumens. In a setting where 1,500 lumens will be fine for watching a movie, 3,000 lumens may be needed for charts, maps and other materials with numbers and words.

5. Collect information about the cost of video projectors at various lumen levels. It is possible that the cost increase from 2,500 to 4,000 lumens may make less quality of the projected image acceptable. More lumens always means more money; you have to decide how much money that extra crispness in the images is worth to you.

Tips & Warnings

• Always dim a room as much as possible to improve viewing with any video projector.

References

• Projectorpeople.com: Lumens guide
• Projector.com: Projector lumens