How many Lumens do you need in your projector?

Projectors need lots of light to get the image to the screen. This light coming from your projector is measured by Lumens. The lower the lumen value the dimmer the lamp in the projector.  The higher the lumens the brighter the projector lamp. You want a bright light for better contrast, colour and a sharper image. However, higher lumens also mean a higher price tag for the projector.

Brighter is not necessarily the best choice since the lighting needed depends on your particular set up and how much ambient light is in your room

The lumens needed depends on 3 factors:

• Content: Are you showing business presentations, watching films or playing games? The more sophisticated the graphics, the more lumens you need.
• Image size: The larger your screen the more light you will need.
• Brightness of room: The more ambient light in your room the more projector light you will need

Importance of your lamp

The projector lamp is the part that produces the light so it’s important to have an authentic OEM UHP lamp installed in your projector. These lamps retain 80% of their brightness during their entire lifetime. Counterfeits are not able to produce the high intensity  and generics will have a shorter life often losing 50% of their brightness midway through use.  An AuraBeam authentic UHP lamps will retain its brightness.

 Table for projector lumens

500 lumens or less: Small groups, portable projectors. Only suitable for very simple presentations without sophisticated photography or videos. Room must be extremely dark. You will need to project the image from a relatively short distance.

700 – 1000 lumens: Small groups, five to 10 people. Suitable for training videos or still photography. Room must be extremely dark. You will need to project the image from a relatively short distance.

1000-2500 lumens: Rooms with little ambient lighting or with blackout curtains. Normal business and classroom use. Groups of five to 15 people. Room doesn’t need to be completely dark.

2500 to 4500 lumens: Large conference rooms or classrooms with overhead lighting. Groups larger than 50 people. Offers good flexibility for high-performance media. There can be some light in the room without the image being washed out.

4000 lumens and up: Large rooms such as churches, auditoriums, nightclubs or other large venues with over 100 hundred people. Projectors will have a higher price tag. Offers best flexibility for high-performance media.