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Does anybody use them? Maybe just for faces?

Almost always. I’ve got a lamp/mag combo, so anything other than very rough work I use it for.

I just wear the cheap magnifying reader glasses you can pick up at the store - I have a low and high pair, depending on how close I need to see and makes it much easier than trying to work under my magnifying light.

When I did realistic scale modeling (cars, tanks aircraft) I used it for engines, cockpits, etc.

I'm old enough that I need a magnifying lamp to paint miniatures these days, for anything but stuff like priming.

Nah, I paint for the display cabinet and table top, which means if I can't see it to paint it then I'm not going to see it afterwards anyway.

If I were painting for competitions or making sexy online photographs of my miniatures, I might consider giving it a go.

These days I have far more trouble with my hands shaking than my eyes anyway.

I have the magnifying glasses, that you wear like glasses, and an LED light in the front.

They are really good for doing detail but also as I have got better at painting I use them less but I’ll never stop using them totally

Eyes are not getting better and always use magnifying glass with light. I can paint without (especially considering my standard of painting), but it is just more relaxed that way.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Nah, I paint for the display cabinet and table top, which means if I can't see it to paint it then I'm not going to see it afterwards anyway.

If I were painting for competitions or making sexy online photographs of my miniatures, I might consider giving it a go.

These days I have far more trouble with my hands shaking than my eyes anyway.

I mitigate hands by bracing, but that’s harder to do with eyes. But I hear you there. Sometimes all the magnification does is show me how bad my brush control is. Fine detail work is reserved for after my morning coffee jitters are gone, but before the day’s energy is spent.

Nope. It messes with your whole perspective and is more counterproductive than good IME.

I use a head lamp/magnifying lens combo but with a 1x magnification. This just makes it a tiny bit easier to focus (I'm going to need reading glasses one of these days, but probably a while off yet) but having the area really flooded with light and no shadow from the lamp is a major bonus. Any higher magnification and it's difficult to co-ordinate hand movements with the movement through the lens.

Curious that this thread popped up. I just bought a set on Amazon a few hours ago. Head mount style with 5 different lenses from 1X to 3X magnification. They should arrive tomorrow.

I intend to use them for micro details, eyes, etc. Hopefully they'll work out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm curious to know what other hobbyists are using.

These are the ones I just bought.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Illuminated-Magnifier-Interchangeable/dp/B08K3K846Y

 oni wrote:
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Illuminated-Magnifier-Interchangeable/dp/B08K3K846Y

Coincidentally the same ones I use. Only for sculpting, though. I don't find magnification helps much when painting.

 oni wrote:
Curious that this thread popped up. I just bought a set on Amazon a few hours ago. Head mount style with 5 different lenses from 1X to 3X magnification. They should arrive tomorrow.

I intend to use them for micro details, eyes, etc. Hopefully they'll work out.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm curious to know what other hobbyists are using.

These are the ones I just bought.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-Illuminated-Magnifier-Interchangeable/dp/B08K3K846Y

I use the same sort of thing but only use magnification for difficult bits, the light pointing exactly where your looking is the main help I find .

It took some getting used to. Like not bonking the backs of my brushes against it. But overall it’s made my painting a lot better and easier.

Getting the light exactly where it needs to be without shadows I think is almost as important as the magnification.

So many problems in out hobby can be solved with adequate lighting.

Main problem about magnifiers is that the brush head gets larger, too.