How many lumens do I actually need for camping?

Across the reviewers we read, 300–500 lumens is plenty for inside a tent, while 800–1,500 lumens covers a picnic-table area or campsite. The high-trust community consensus is that running a lantern on its lowest setting at night is almost always preferable — multiple r/CampingGear threads explicitly warn that maxing out a 1,000+ lumen lantern is uncomfortable and ruins night vision.