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10-13-2014

Candela vs Lux vs Lumens

It happens far too o!en. You walk into a store, pick up light bulb or a handheld Will Parsons
spotlight and look at the specifications- only to find that one says lumens, another
says lux, and the last reads something about candela. Inside, you question why no
one uses the same system for measuring these things, and take your best guess
based on the other items on the shelf. The short answer is that they’re all separate Search
standards for measuring di"erent kinds of lighting e"ects. Let’s break it down into
the long answer to dispel a few more shadows.

Candela

We’ll start with candela (cd) – also commonly called candlepower. Candela is the
base measurement for describing luminous intensity. It tells you how bright the
light source is which shows how far away from an object you can be and while still
being able to see it. Any light source eventually becomes too dim to see the further
away you are. This is di"erent from lumens (a total light output) because it’s the
value of light intensity from any point in a single direction from the light source.
Laser pointers or spot lights have the highest candela rating since the majority of
their light is focused in a single direction. A simple comparison is that 1 candela is
roughly equivalent to the light from a single candle. If you have a light bulb
generating 1 cd and block part of the light, every direction not obscured still
produces 1 cd. This is because the same intensity of light can be seen from any non-
obscured direction at the same distance. Again, candela is the luminous intensity
which describes how bright a light source is.

Lux

The Las Vegas hotel right? Wrong, that’s the Luxor. Lux (lx) measures illuminance,
which is the amount of light on a surface per unit area. A single lux is equal to one Most Recent Post
lumen per square meter. If the lamp displays its brightness as a measurement of lux,
it usually lists a distance from the bulb since any change in distance or bulb type
changes the lux level. As an example, if you place a 100 lumen bulb in a flood light
that shines on only one square meter of surface, that surface will be lit at 100 lx.
However, if you back the flood light away to shine on four square meters, the surface
is now lit with 25 lx.

Fun Fact: A full moon on a clear night can shine up to a single lux. In full
daylight, indirect sunlight can illuminate a surface by between 10,000 to 25,000 Temporary Job Site
lux. This is why seasonal a!ective disorder (SAD) lamps should be rated at Lighting: When and
10,000 lux minimum. Where You Need It
Commercial Lighting, Light Fixtures

Lumens

Lumens are now the most common measurement for a light bulb. The lumen (lm) is
a measurement of luminous flux, or the total amount of visible light. To put it
simply, the lumen rating is how much total visible light is produced by a light
source. To show the di"erence between lumens and candela, let’s go back to the
example previously used for candela with the partially obscured light bulb. For a Wired or Unwired?
bulb emitting 1 cd, that bulb would also have a luminous intensity of 12.57 lm. Exploring the Features
Obscuring half the bulb (making it a hemisphere instead of a full sphere), a 1 cd bulb and Flexibility of an
will emit only 6.28 lm. This is because lumens measure the total amount of visible Integrated Lighting
Systems
light from a light source.
Commercial Lighting, Lighting Tips,
Light Fixtures, Home Lighting
So why all of the di"erent ratings? Since candelas, lux, and lumens are all measuring
something di"erent, you can gain insight into how a lamp is useful. A laser pointer
will have an extremely low lumen value but a very high candela rating, since a laser
pointer doesn’t give o" very much light but is visible from great distances. Light
bulbs are usually listed in lumens to show how much illumination the uncovered
bulb produces. And lamps will o!en display a lux value for a set distance to give you
an idea of how bright your surface will be for task lighting.

A good way to remember the di"erences between terms is:

• Lumens are how much light is given o"

• Lux is how bright your surface will be

• Candela measures the visible intensity from the light source.

Care to add your own insight, or just have a few questions on the math behind
converting between measurements? Then comment below, or contact us using
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest!

candela, candlepower, lighting ideas, lighting terms, lighting tips, lumens, lux

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