Reach out to one of our engineers today to help you choose the perfect display for your application.The American Heritage Dictionary tells us: However, there are other specifications to consider, such as refresh rate, interface, viewing angle, and resolution. Understanding the nits, lumens, and luminance specifications is an important factor when choosing light-emitting devices such as LCD screens. To convert nits to lumens simply multiply the number of Nits by 3.426. Brightness is a perception and is commonly done in percentages.ġ Nit = 3.426 Lumens. Luminance is the amount of light emitted from the source and illuminance is the amount of light that hits a surface.īrightness is not the same as luminance and does not have a quantitative measure. Whats the difference between Luminance and Illuminance? In contrast, luminous intensity measures light emitted by a light source in a given direction. Luminous flux measures the total amount of light emitted by a light source across its whole angular spectrum. Whats the difference between Luminous flux and luminous intensity? In the display industry, luminance is used to specify the brightness of displays. The Nit measures luminance or brightness of an object, and lumens measure how much light is being emitted.

Lumens describe total light output in all directions and candela describes light output or intensity from a specific point in a single direction.Īlthough both the Nit and the Lumen are units used to measure light output, the key distinction between the two is that Luminous flux is the total amount of light emitted by a source measured in lumens. The light output from a projector is also commonly measured in lumens. Lumens are commonly used in light bulb product specifications to describe how bright the light is.

Luminous flux is a measurement of how much light is emitted by a source measured in lumens. The lumen (lm) is the unit of measurement for luminous flux in the International System of Units (SI). We sell Sunlight Readable displays and IPS displays designed with high brightness LED backlights for outdoor applications. For LCD displays used outside, 400-700 nits are minimum for use in daylight conditions, andĪt least 1000 nits to view in bright, direct sunlight. In simpler terms, nit is just a different name for candela.Īverage consumer LCD displays have a luminance of 200 to 350 nits. Light measurement units - Lumen, Lux and Candela. The most common units used to measure light are Lumen, Lux and Candela. We can measure light based on the brightness seen by the human eye. Some of the highest candela ratings are seen in spotlights or lasers since most of its light is concentrated in one direction. The light from one candle is roughly one candela. A candela measures the amount of luminance intensity from any point in a single direction. Candela: The unit measurement for light intensity.The candela is the SI unit for luminous intensity. Luminous intensity: Amount of visible light emitted from a source in a particular direction per unit solid angle.Luminous Flux (Lux): The amount of light emitted in every direction and measured in lumens.Lumen: The total amount of visible light emitted from a light source.Luminance is also referred to as brightness. Luminance: The perceived amount of light emitted from an object.Illuminance: The amount of light that hits a surface.Before we compare light measuring units, it's essential to understand some concepts:

Lux lumen meaning