What is lux???

[Lazlo]

I've heard it, seen it, but have very little idea of what it means. It has to do with lighting. That's about it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Digigenic]

Lux --- is a measurement of illumination, and/or a measure of the brightness of an object in a scene. It is the metric unit for measuring the amount of light that falls on an object, and is the European equivalent of the British foot-candle (lumen). Particularly, 1 lux equals the amount of light that falls on a one square meter surface that is one meter away from a single burning candle. Cameras need a certain degree of scene brightness in order to register a picture. 10 lux equals about 1 footcandle, the amount of light produced by 10 candles one meter away.

 

[MarkG]

Also, note that when cameras say '0.1 Lux' or whatever, they often mean that that is the lowest illumination where you can see something vaguely recognizable when the camera has boosted the electronic gain so much that pretty much everything has vanished into the noise.

In other words, it may not tell you anything useful when compared to any other camera.

 

[Digigenic]

Yeah, there's been a great deal of speculation as to whether or not some of the lower end digital camcorders have been calibrating the sensors for accurate lux measurement. But, there's supposed to be a standard lux rating system implemented into these cameras soon.