Just wondering how does a camp fire compare with a non-collimated light.
Anyone ever taken a light meter outdoors at camp? If not, it might be interesting to evaluate how much light comes out of a fire. Obviously, it's pretty much impossible to measure the total output (lumen) for practical reasons, but at least a directional output average in lux would be interesting. I think we'll all agree that all camp fires are not created equal, but an average would be interesting to have. If no one's willing to bing out their precious light meter, a guesstimate would be interesting thing to come up with, since there are so many lights with low settings and infinite variability. Here are some parameters:
There's the obvious relatives, like:
-How much woods in the fire
-How dispersed or close together are the logs
-How much humidity in the wood
-Log width, length, type of wood
-Anything else than wood in the fire?
We obviously can't control most of these, and I really wonder who would bring a calibrated balance to weight the wood...
so let's just try to keep the parameters within reason and say it's a standard camp fire (20 to 30 inches in diameter), the wood is relatively dry (not cracking dry), the logs are 4 to 6 inch in diameter, the starter wood and paper has burnt out (only wood in the fire by now). Your fire would probably have 5 or 6 logs, some of them already burned, so you put 2 or three more fresh ones and wait for the luminosity to peak out...
At the opposite end, it would also be interesting to have an idea of the Lux output of the gigantic bonfire as well. Problem here, I dare anyone to take a measurement at 1 meter!
I'll try to come up with my own guesstimate this summer, I just hope I don't get stuck with wet wood like last year... it really sucked! All the fires I started had to be ignited 2 to 4 times each, just to dry the wood enough to burn... I'd say I had a 5 lux camp fire all summer long!
Anyone ever taken a light meter outdoors at camp? If not, it might be interesting to evaluate how much light comes out of a fire. Obviously, it's pretty much impossible to measure the total output (lumen) for practical reasons, but at least a directional output average in lux would be interesting. I think we'll all agree that all camp fires are not created equal, but an average would be interesting to have. If no one's willing to bing out their precious light meter, a guesstimate would be interesting thing to come up with, since there are so many lights with low settings and infinite variability. Here are some parameters:
There's the obvious relatives, like:
-How much woods in the fire
-How dispersed or close together are the logs
-How much humidity in the wood
-Log width, length, type of wood
-Anything else than wood in the fire?
We obviously can't control most of these, and I really wonder who would bring a calibrated balance to weight the wood...
so let's just try to keep the parameters within reason and say it's a standard camp fire (20 to 30 inches in diameter), the wood is relatively dry (not cracking dry), the logs are 4 to 6 inch in diameter, the starter wood and paper has burnt out (only wood in the fire by now). Your fire would probably have 5 or 6 logs, some of them already burned, so you put 2 or three more fresh ones and wait for the luminosity to peak out...
At the opposite end, it would also be interesting to have an idea of the Lux output of the gigantic bonfire as well. Problem here, I dare anyone to take a measurement at 1 meter!
I'll try to come up with my own guesstimate this summer, I just hope I don't get stuck with wet wood like last year... it really sucked! All the fires I started had to be ignited 2 to 4 times each, just to dry the wood enough to burn... I'd say I had a 5 lux camp fire all summer long!
and try to get the same illumination on the tree... but that definitely would be a LUX equivalent rather than a lumen equivalent... then again, make a sphere out of the flames and figure how many times the surface of the business end of your light fits on the surface of that sphere and get out your pocket calculator... 
