Light level converter
Convert between lux and foot-candles, the two units of how much light lands on a surface, and see where that sits between moonlight and full sun.
That's about the same as an office desk. Desk work wants about 500 lux; a bright overcast day outdoors is 10,000.
What it means
How bright is that?
These units measure light falling on a surface, not the brightness of a lamp, which is measured in lumens.
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Your light level in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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Foot-candles to lux: about ten
1 foot-candle is 10.76 lux, so multiplying by 10 is close. A 50 foot-candle office is roughly 500 lux.
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A candle at one foot
The foot-candle is literally the light of one standard candle falling on a surface one foot away. The metric lux replaced the candle with the lumen.
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Lumens, lux and watts
Lumens measure what a bulb emits, lux what reaches your desk, and watts only what the bulb consumes. Shops print all three and they answer different questions.
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Background
About light units
Illuminance is how much light lands on a surface: one lux is one lumen per square meter. The US equivalent is the foot-candle, one lumen per square foot, which makes it 10.76 lux.
Office standards ask for about 500 lux on a desk; a bright overcast day outside is already 10,000.