Magnifying devices

[TollHouseGolem]

I'm thinking about buying a magnifying device to assist my painting efforts, and was looking for input from those of you who currently use magnification. So what do you use (stand alone, lighted, or head mounted), and how effective have you found it to be?

 

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

 

Regards,

 

Tom

[Wren]

I've tried three different devices. The first was a magnifying glass attached to my lamp. I didn't care for that much. It needed to rest 4-5 inches away from the mini, so my brush kept bumping into it all the time.

 

Then I tried an OptiVisor. This is a visor that you can swivel up and down to rest in front of your eyes. If you use it constantly, you'll have to look under it or move it up from your eyes to do regular stuff like mix paints and so on. I still use that today. There's some range to move the mini around in, and the clarity is great.

 

OptiVisor doesn't seem to have a main site, but here's a site that shows it in use. Dead sexy looking. ;->

 

I have also tried MagEyes. This one locates between your eyes and your chest. It's hard to explain, but you can see it in the picture. With this, you're looking downwards towards the work. I don't think it has quite as much of a range for moving the mini around and keeping things in focus. But to be honest, I didn't try this one that much. I got it several years after I had been using the OptiVisor, and it is so hard to break the habit of how I use the OptiVisor.

 

And here's the MagEyes site.

 

With both, you can get different strengths of lenses to fit into the headband if you find you want more or less magnification than what you purchase it with.

 

I do sort of wish I had tried the MagEyes first. Now I'm old enough to get bifocals, which are designed to have you look downwards to focus on small things, and that would work better with the MagEyes style. If I get tons of money some time, I'll get a second pair of bifocals with the close-up lens towards the top to use for painting.

[TaleSpinner]

When I use something other than just my reading glasses, I use an Optivisor. It is one of the few magnification products that provide binocular vision which is essential for the depth perception needed to aim the brush. I primarily use it only for complicated freehand work.

[tabascojunkie]

I'm starting to get old, and wear glasses and have a second pair with a different prescription for hobby work, they're only good for out to maybe 30 inches away from me. They make a very large difference. For detail stuff like eyes I use one of these in addition to the hobby glasses.

[Inarah]

I don't like the visors, I'm always smacking them into my lamp. I went with a pair of reading glasses from the drugstore.

 

My husband like the mageyes thing because he can wear it over his bifocals.

[Wilwarin]

I have one of those long-necked bendable magnifying glasses that I found at a flea market. It works amazingly well, I love it. I have bad eyes as well and find it very easy to work with.

[Heisler]

I take off my glasses, seriously. I'm nearsighted enough that my eyes are, essentially, magnifiers. The mini comes into focus at about 5-6 inches from my eye and I can see everything fine without any eye strain.

[GreyHorde]

+1 for OptiVisor. Used to have the mag/lamp thing, gave it up for reasons noted above. I have an Ott light with a magnifier on it that works pretty well, but mostly for demo & travel. I don't wear glasses, but have the opposite effect from Heisler - a mini goes out of focus at about 7 inches from my nose. So, the Opti works for me.

[ledfloyd]

+1 for the Opti-visor too. I did have the swingarm lamp/Magnifier combo but it made me nauseous. Whenever I moved my head slightly to one side one of my eyes would have a different focus point from the other caused by the curvature of the lens. I think that was causing a motion-sickness kind of reaction.

[Castlebuilder]

I'm also an Optivisor fan. I've tried the lighted magnifier and had the same problems as Wren. It also seemed to be akward having to move the mini to get the best focus. I've got a pair of strong reading glasses that I've tried, but things get out of focus when I'm dipping my brush. With my Optivisor I can adjust is so that I can peek under it when I'm dipping the brush. I had a mid-range version for years. It worked great, but the headband had a pretty cheap adjustment which caused me problems. Last summer I picked up an Optivisor. It was well worth the investment.

[Don Rodolfo Graziani]

I use the lit magnifying glass. While I do hit the thing with my paint brush, it's not enough to deter me from using it. Of course being nearsighted myself, I really only use it for detail facial work and freehand.

 

DRG

[Rastl]

I use 2.0 reading glasses. They're just enough to bring the mini into sharp focus for me.

[Froggy the Great]

I just hunch over and paint with the figure about 6" from my eyes. I tried a magnifier headset but I kept running into lamps and my brother would keep calling me from across the room, knowing I'd forget to raise the visor before looking at him through it.

[morganm]

I use these cheap visors and really like them. 1x is fine for most things but flip down the 2x often. Usually see them in hardware and tool shops in the bargin bin for $5-$10.

 

Tried the magnifying glass on a swivel arm... totally sucked. Ended up hunched over the glass trying to hold the mini under it in just the right spot. I like the visors because I see wherever I point my head. I can hold the min up and sit in a more upright position so my back and neck aren't strained.

 

Never hit my visor on my lights. I use pretty high watt lights and keep them out of the way. Usually have 200-400 watts of full spectrum light so I can keep them 4' away and still have lots of light.

 

Those binocular visors sound trick what with keeping your depth perception. The visor I use is fine untill I swing down the single lens 3x zoom and then I totally loose my depth perception.

[Jabberwocky]

Optivisor for me as well.