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I was thinking about getting a new hobby lamp for Christmas because I do most of my painting at night. Since I don't have any idea where to start about this type of thing I was just looking for some opinions about what kind of lamps I should be looking into. Is there something particular that miniature painters look for? What kind of lighting arrangement do you use? Any help on the subject would be appreciated.

Thin is what I have and I absolutely love it. Couldn't recommend it enough.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifemax-Magnifying-Table-Light-Black/dp/B00545YREG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355828708&sr=8-4

I use a fluorescent desk lamp with a daylight bulb. I used to do halogen but the heat dried my paints prematurely.

I bought one of these after a friend suggested the brand: http://www.ottlite.com/p-308-the-ottlite-natural-daylight-desk-lamp.aspx I don't think I can go back to a normal light now. I really like it, the height is just right for painting and modeling and the light it produces helps with all of the detail work that painting models requires. I bought mine at Michael's the other day and they were 50% in the store. Good luck finding something that works for you.

Any lamp with a daylight globe will set you straight. The style of lamp is upto you though. Whether its free standing or a bolt/clip on lamp. The choice is yours.

 Snrub wrote:
Any lamp with a daylight globe will set you straight. The style of lamp is upto you though. Whether its free standing or a bolt/clip on lamp. The choice is yours.

Yup this. I went the Ottlite route but any Daylight bulb is what you are looking for. If you have room for 2, it can help reduce shadows from a single lamp.

I just picked this up a couple of weeks ago - inexpensive, and a vast improvement on my previous lamp with an incandescent "daylight" bulb. At first I thought I might need a second lamp so as to provide light from both sides of my work area, but just having the one is working out fine.

I opted for a lamp without a magnifier because I found my previous one messed with my depth perception and was difficult to manœuvre the mini and brush under. It was also hard keeping the lens clean. On the advice of another poster on these boards, I picked up some off-the-shelf 3.0x reading glasses. I'm loving them, although they do make looking up to see the TV show on in the background pretty disorienting.

I'll second the recommendations for the OTT-Lite. I have a small one on my computer desk, and a free standing one in my living room that doubles as both a hobby light and just general light.

there are cheaper options to be sure, but none that I can vouch for personally.

Like everyone else says, OTT-Lite are the best. They're a bit pricey, but if you have an art store like Jo-Anns or Michales near by, they always have coupons you can use, and you can probably use the other store's coupons for price matching if that's all you've got.

The best lamp I love using with that bulb is the Ikea Tertial. It's got a great length on the arm and easily moves around for good placement of lighting. There is no base, you just tighten the clamp down on an edge of your table or you can even screw it into the wall for the placement. I have a picture of it in one of my old blog posts, shows the lighting you can get with the OTT-Lite and the Tertial.

I have pretty darned good eyesight and I'm unable to see a difference in quality between the light from OTT Lites and CFL-style full-spectrum/daylight bulbs, which are the considerably cheaper option. For the cost of one, even on sale, you can usually pick up two or more cheaper lamps with good bulbs, which together will give you better overall lighting conditions.

Multiple light sources are ideal, as you can eliminate the hard shadows that bright lights (which we want, for the sake of color clarity and viewing tiny detail) cast. Personally, I like lamps with a gooseneck or swing arm, so I can adjust exactly where the light is most intense, or move the head out of the way when working on larger projects. If it's adjustable, even a single lamp will take care of most of your lighting needs. Still, as long as you aren't blinding yourself, more is better.

You might want to take a page from professionals...not professional miniature painters, they tend to have the technical expertise of a voodoo priestess. Professional graphic designers.

Use the light which you will be displaying the miniatures under most. This will have your stuff looking its best when you are actually playing with them as opposed to having to drag them outside in order to take pictures in the sunlight...so that you can really see how they look.

You do have some color shift because of the type of light you use, whether it is a yellowing caused by incandescent bulbs or somewhat blue caused by certain "daylight" bulbs. If you paint under the same light that you play under (which is likely the same light you will look at them under) then they will look the same. If you paint under a full spectrum bulb but then play under regular lighting - then the paint colors often look a bit off.

Professional designers use the same techniques to balance color on signs in stores and retail establishments. As opposed to making them look good in the light of day (which they will never see) they are balanced to look right under fluorescent tube lights or under sodium vapor bulbs.

Granted, if you have your eyes set on something like a Golden Demon or other painting contest - things change a little bit...but most people are not on that path and only want good lighting to paint under.

If you would like to tread that path though - you then need to consider what the final use will be. Some contests have displays which are lit by daylight bulbs...some are not though. You also have cameras to take into account. Most digital cameras are designed to take pictures in daylight, so you want to paint your miniatures for them and then photograph the miniatures under it (or something which is comparable to daylight). This ensures the miniatures look right on the computer or the printed page depending on where the pictures will be displayed in the end.
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So, with all that out of the way - I actually look for so much light you feel like you are in an operating room. I want to be able to see everything and then some. As a result, I actually use 2 48" full spectrum bulbs which are mounted to the bottom of the shelves which are above my painting desk. For the distance from the bulbs to the worksurface...the light output is equivalent to full daylight. The spectrum of the light is the same as the halogen lights which I use in the rest of the house.

I also have a pair of articulated architect's desk lamps mounted on either side of the desk. This gives me the ability to swap out different bulbs for special projects as well as look at how certain things look with oriented light sources for display models and the like.

I play under those long tube fluorescent bulbs, but I paint with a pair of cheap lamps I bought for my college dorm room closets (dark places), I bought a standing one and a clip one from Walmart for like 15 bucks each I think? And then 6 bucks for a 4 pack of daylight bulbs from Home Depot.

Sean's comments are the best in the fact you should paint in the light your minis will be in, but I've found that for me, daylight bulbs just provide me with the brightness I require to see the minis lol

Some ceiling light, a torchiere floor lamp to increase ambient brightness, and either a desk lamp or a clip-on lamp would do. For the desk lamps here are my recommendations:

- For drawing on a table with small details, go for the Brightech Lightview Pro, the one with rounds of LEDs surrounding the magnifier. It works with both a clamp and a table base. If your table is not too tall, you can also use the floor lamp version, that one is more versatile because you can adjust the brightness and the temperature (whether you want bright day light or warm white). Or you can use a small book light or music stand light and clip it right on the board, except book lights tend to be quite short and small so they won't work for large paintings.

- For other things, the BenQ eReading Lamp would do. It's tall, large, flexible, and has a special design in increase the area the light can reach and also reduce the glare. You can adjust both the brightness and the color temperature, so it's easy to find a setting that's most pleasant to your eyes. If you draw while standing, you can also put it on a floor stand.

My answer is already pretty lengthy, so here are a few places you can find more info about the lamps: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-desk-lamp/, and here https://www.hookedtobooks.com/best-desk-lamps/. Amazon customer reviews are a great resource too!

I use 3 of these left, right and above
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00XHNDCIO/ref=pd_ys_sabia_6?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00XHNDCIO&pd_rd_r=PWA76E34NZ5RHM1J0E75&pd_rd_w=XWFtT&pd_rd_wg=zT5Gd&psc=1&refRID=PWA76E34NZ5RHM1J0E75