How many Lumens is enough for a white tent (outdoors)

"Lumens" are meaningless without a screen size.

How big is the image you are throwing??!! What is the format?? 4:3? 16:9?

What is the ambient light??

Ahhhh .... the single most important item which you never mentioned before!?

Daytime!!!

Good luck!

Someone else with outdoor, daytime projection is going to have to guide you.

How 'bout multiple 42" plasma screens?

The sun is going to be a killer. I can't help you! Sorry! You should maybe check with a local wedding planner who might be able to guide you to a projectionist that rents him or her out for these events and see if they can help.

Just to put this in perspective - I have an 1700 lumen projector that I project INSIDE MY HOUSE at about 100 inches wide on a grey screen and a little bit of sunlight washes out the image pretty severely. I typically don't view on my screen during the day, but if I do, I try to block the screen as much as I can, and I still have trouble.

Being a professional lighting designer and having tons of experience in tent weddings, you are in tough shape. 1800 lumens can't fight the sun. The white tent won't do a whole lot to reduce the sun depending on the tent construction, and if you are using a tent wall as a screen you will need a lot more as the tent wall will be pretty well backlit.

There are a number of factors that go into what you will need, is it overcast? Any tree cover to block the tent? throw distance? time of day? type of tent? Fabric of the tent? which direction the sun sets... (even if its a daytime event the sun will go lower in the horizon and potentially shine direct sunlight on to your screen in the middle of your event)

In general in that situation I tend to recommend plasma screens in that situation, they are more reliable as long as you can keep them out of direct sunlight. They may not be as impactful, and visible, but the last thing you want is to spend time, money and energy creating a slideshow, video montage or whatever and have it not be seen by anybody because its a great day without a cloud in the sky. If you are set on a projector for size or whatever, you need to be in the 5k+ range at the very least depending on the throw it may be in the 10K range.

The last thing to keep in mind projecting in tents is that the most common tents have stake heights of 8' - 11'6" which means the perimeter of the tent is only that high. Trying to figure out the logistics of front projection can be hard without shooting through people. What we sometimes do is have the tent company put up a small tent adjoining the main tent to set up rear projection.

It might help to put up some black cloth (maybe even several layers) behind the white tent wall to help shield the backside form sunlight, but then you're committed to front projection.

And if you're doing rear projection, then the typical tent wall might be too thick to project through. A sheet might be needed instead to get enough light to show through. Then you'll need, like perdojunkie said, a smaller tent outside and connected to the wall your projecting onto to block the sun and allow rear projection.

Not really condoning this, BUT..... Oh, nevermind.... Some people are just too damn sensitive and get offended too easily.... GROW UP PEOPLE!!!! Original comment REMOVED since it offended others....

If you did this, I hope you drop it. Hard. And with no insurance.

rgroves - It's folks like you that ruin things for the rest of us!!!!

Sam's and Costco have already started to impose restrictions on returns, exactly because of the behaviour you "don't condone".

And if you are going to respond that "I said I don't really condone it", save your energy. Because this is one of those black and white issues, no gray area. Either you think this type of behaviour is ok, or you don't.

DAMN people, I NEVER SAID I'VE DONE THIS !!!!!! Christ-almighty, I'm not that damn cheap. I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS, AND NEVER WILL DO THIS...PERIOD. I'm not one of those cheap people that put tiles into a HDD box at Bestbuy and pass it off as a new drive.


Also, I KNOW FOR A FACT that the Sam's club near me doesn't enforce that rule, because they have had TV's in their clearance section with crayon marks and stickers in the front of the TV, and the sticker says "USED - NO REMOTE". And it was a 3 year old plasma. Tell me this was a "display model" that they decided to change out. Some cheap bastard bought a new one similar to his old one and brought the old one back. People do things like this....I don't, but others do...it's LIFE...get used to it or start wearing a helmet.

Also, they've had washing machines with water still in the hoses and tub with "USED" on then, and the manufacture date was 2 years old. Yea, what Sam's Club let you "test drive" a washing machine????

I'm not going to debate the "legality" of this. I'm not responding or derailing this thread any further. In fact I'm going to delete the comment I made on my earlier post, so GET OFF MY BACK PEOPLE!!!!! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR PUTTING UP WITH B.S. TONIGHT.


How's this for an alternative - Go to a Local RENTAL place like AARON'S and RENT a large TV for the weekend..... Is this for all of those that I "offended" ?????

So why didn't you recommend this in the first place instead of 'fraud'?!?!

Because Jokes are funny?