Open Air Tutorials: Outdoor Movie Projector Lumens

When considering buying or renting a system for outdoor movies, the first thing to consider is what size of outdoor movie screen is best suited for your size audience. Once this is determined, there is another question to consider: What type of digital projector should be used, how many lumens, and what is a lumen anyway? A lumen is a unit of standard measurement used to describe how much light is contained in a certain area. Think of it as a measure of the total amount of visible light emitted from a source. As the screen size increases, the amount of light hitting the screen must also increase to prevent the projection from becoming dull. The brighter the picture, the clearer and sharper it will look. It's like having the right amount of paint for a wall. If you need one bucket of paint for a given wall, but then you double the size of the wall, that one bucket of paint will no longer be enough to cover it. If you try to use one bucket of paint for both walls, it will be very thin. The same principle applies in projection, if you do not have a bright enough projector (with the correct amount of lumens) for your screen size, the image will be washed out - like spreading paint too thin on a wall. Keep in mind; you also don't want to go overboard! If a 3,000k lumen projector can give you a bright clear picture, there is no need to jump to a 4,000k. At Open Air Cinema our experienced staff can advise you on the outdoor movie projector that is best suited for your inflatable screen. We specialize in selling Sanyo projectors to give you the best quality projector for your open air cinema event!