Workbench light, what are you folks using to light your work area?

I use this daylight light.

http://www.protools.be/N_frame.html...p_met_Tafelklem_-_3_x_14w_TL__N_art_3564.html

marc

Personally, I find that having a specific "daylight" source doesn't matter much. Let me explain.
First, I think it's more important to have a full spectrum than it is to have a specific correlated color temperature. Many light sources are only RGB lights--they don't emit the full spectrum of light. As a result, the colors other than RGB won't come out as much.

The biggest reason I don't think it matters is that when you take your models out of your studio, the color will change. No matter where you go, a museum, a model show, outdoors, the lighting will be different from your studio. If you change the lighting, you change the color. Period.
In a perfect world, we could light our studio identically to our model's final display space. But few of us will know where that will be or what the lighting will be like. In reality, that is just not practical. Thus, I don't see the point of fussing over your studio lighting. The bottom line is that as soon as you take your model out of your studio, its color will change.

Think about this, when you see other people's models, you can't tell what kind of lighting they have in their studio. Even if someone was aiming to exactly match a historical color, no one would know without a color matching booth and an agreed upon, standard light source (which none of us have).

What do I use? I have a variety of light and cool LED, fluorescent, and incandescent sources. My hope is to get a full spectrum and have the warm and cool cancel each other out. No one has ever complained about my colors.

I've probably chimed in on one or more of the threads that Nap referenced above, but I'll reply here, too.

Yes, good lighting is necessary!

For general lighting, I have a single 60w soft white incandescent over the bench, which casts a good general area light.

Mounted on the bench are three draftsman's lights, with either 60w or 100w soft white incandescent lamps in them, as in this image:



I can focus them as necessary on specific areas of the bench.

I have also added an LED desk lamp to my toolbox, so I can take it with me as necessary. This is the particular model:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KSQ8ZNA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really like this lamp. It has four different settings, from a bright white light, through somewhat dimmer shades. Those settings also have some color to them, especially the "Relax" setting, which has a touch of what is called amber in stage lighting. Amber gives a color that mimics natural daylight, and it makes washed-out skin tones look healthy-that's an advantage, in stage lighting. But in any case, this lamp breaks down into a very small profile, perfect for adding to a portable work station.

Now that we're in winter, I work at my kitchen table, instead at my bench in the cellar. I use this desk lamp at the kitchen table. And I liked it so much, I bought a second one to use on my desk at work.

You can order it through Amazon, or if you're in the US, some of the large box stores carry it, or similar models.

I also bought myself a magnifier like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/UEETEK-Adjustable-Magnifying-Magnifier-Extension/dp/B077QDJH3G

because I wanted additional lighting aimed along my line of sight. But I find it uncomfortable. The batteries-3 AAA batteries-are mounted in the headpiece, and coupled with the weight of the lenses, they press on the bridge of my nose. I may wind up selling it at my club.

I much prefer my Optivisor (a knock-off, actually), but it has no lights. When I finally wear it out, I'll get one with lights mounted in the eyepiece and aimed along my line of sight. Even in a well-lit area, I find that additional bit of light is helpful, particularly when doing assembly work.

That's my experience, hope it helps!

Prost!
Brad

My studio is furnished with fluorescent lights installed on the ceiling.
The bulbs are made by Philips in Netherlands and have a CRI of 98
I do not use any other lights.

Like Brad, I too have one of the UEETEK magnifiers, but I find it seriously useful and not at all uncomfortable........that may be
because I have an 'interesting' shape to my nose caused by an encounter with a cricket ball when I was still at school.

Mike

I have just made a complete article on lighting up the bench and correct light source for perception of color rendering, for the Michigan Toy Soldier Blog, here's the link to the full article :

BENCH LIGHT ARTICLE BY Julian Conde