Still Learning about Lumens...

BloodCleanSoul · Aug 3, 2014

So I'm still new to how Lumens and things work….So little help please!

Looking at two lights, one 780lm the other 960lm. Would there be a larger difference in the appearance in these lights? I know it's only 120lm…Is it a huge difference? I read that 120lm is huge when going you're jumping from 1lm to 120lm…but is the jump big when 780lm to 960lm?

Thoughts? (The 960lm is a smooth reflector vs an orange peel on the 780lm…if that makes any difference)

StarHalo · Aug 3, 2014

That's a 23% difference; you need a 10% discrepancy to see any difference at all, so the 960 lumen light will look just a tiny bit brighter. The smooth reflector means a sharper beam profile, the hotspot and spillbeam with be starkly separated, whereas the orange peel reflector will have a smooth beam profile, a more even transition with fewer artifacts.

BloodCleanSoul · Aug 3, 2014

StarHalo said:
That's a 23% difference; you need a 10% discrepancy to see any difference at all, so the 960 lumen light will look just a tiny bit brighter. The smooth reflector means a sharper beam profile, the hotspot and spillbeam with be starkly separated, whereas the orange peel reflector will have a smooth beam profile, a more even transition with fewer artifacts.

Ok, will the sharper beam profile cause it to look even brighter?

StarHalo · Aug 3, 2014

BloodCleanSoul said:
Ok, will the sharper beam profile cause it to look even brighter?

It depends on how much of the overall light is put into the hotspot; if it has a small, tight hotspot, then that particular spot will look much brighter. But if it has a big, broad hotspot, it will look dimmer. The texture of the reflector doesn't determine this, it's more to do with diameter of the reflector and emitter, and depth. Big deep reflectors catch a whole lot of light and focus it into a bright hotspot, small shallow reflectors let the light spill out broadly into a flood.

wingspar · Aug 3, 2014

StarHalo described it pretty well. One of my recent purchases is a Thrunite TN12 (2014) and it's more of a floody light. I can barely tell the difference between 850 lumens and 1050 lumens.

Bob Damon · Aug 6, 2014

You might want to compare how long each light can run at max lumens. Not many small 960 lumen lights can run at max output for long, then it will step down. If you get 960l for 3 minutes, then a step down to 800, that's not much different than 780. Check the Selfbuilt review for each light to compare run times and how long it will run at max lumens.

Still Learning about Lumens...

BloodCleanSoul

Enlightened

StarHalo

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BloodCleanSoul

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StarHalo

Flashaholic

wingspar

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Bob Damon

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