Google interview question

What is the difference between luminance and illuminance?

Interview Answers

Anonymous

17 Jan 2014

Illuminance is the amount of light coming from a light source that lands on a surface (Has unit of Footcandles or Lux), and Lumiance describes the amount of light leaving a surface in a particular direction (has unit Cd/m), which can also be thought of as the measured brightness of a surface seen by the eye or any detector system.

4

Anonymous

14 Apr 2011

Both terms have to do with the eye's response to light. Illuminance is the flux per area of light onto a surface while Luminance is the flux per area of light per steradian.