Light Levels
real-world illuminance for grounding physically-based lighting · click EV to copy
10scenarios
| Scenario | Illuminance (lux) | ≈ EV₁₀₀ |
|---|---|---|
| Direct summer sun | 50,000 – 100,000 | |
| Full daylight, indirect | 10,000 – 25,000 | |
| Overcast day | 1,000 – 2,000 | |
| Sunrise / sunset (clear) | 300 – 500 | |
| Bright office / studio | 300 – 500 | |
| Living room, evening | 50 – 150 | |
| Street lighting | 5 – 30 | |
| Twilight | 1 – 10 | |
| Full moon, clear night | 0.05 – 0.3 | |
| Starlight only | 0.001 – 0.002 |
| Luminance references (what things emit) | cd/m² (nits) |
|---|---|
| Sun disc (never point a render camera at it unfiltered) | ≈ 1.6 × 10⁹ |
| Clear daytime sky (away from sun) | ≈ 3,000 – 8,000 |
| Overcast sky | ≈ 1,000 – 2,000 |
| Full moon disc | ≈ 2,500 |
| HDR mastering monitor peak | 1,000 / 4,000 |
| SDR reference monitor (100% white) | 100 |
| Cinema screen (SDR projection) | ≈ 48 |
| Practical light sources (what fixtures put out) | Luminous flux |
|---|---|
| Candle flame | ≈ 12 lm (≈ 1 cd) |
| Household LED bulb (60 W-equivalent) | ≈ 800 lm |
| Bright household bulb (100 W-equivalent) | ≈ 1,600 lm |
| Practical car headlight (low beam, per side) | ≈ 1,000 – 1,500 lm |
| 1K tungsten fresnel | ≈ 20,000 lm |
| ARRI SkyPanel S60-class LED panel | ≈ 30,000 lm |
| 4K HMI | ≈ 300,000 lm |
Sun-to-moon is a ~19-stop range — if your night exterior only drops 4 stops from your day setup, it will read as dusk. Renderers with physical units handle this when exposure is set in real EV.
Rules of thumb: sunny-16 (EV₁₀₀ ≈ 15 in direct sun); each halving of light = −1 EV; lux from a point source falls off with 1/distance². Physical-light workflow: set fixtures in lumens/candela, set camera exposure in EV from the table above, and the image lands where reality would.
Pair with the exposure-stops calculator to convert an EV difference into a light-intensity multiplier.