"Advice for aging eyes..." Topic

In the past few years I have been painting les and less, one part due to time, another part not willing to admit I need bi-vocals. I have come to terms with my poor up close eye sight and now hve(had) transition lenses. Alas, these have become so scratched I had to switch back to my far-seeing glasses. I have 4x readers but I still have to have a miniature (28mm 40kOrk) inches from my face, not leaving much room for room for a brush. I have recently gotten the urge to,paint my Perry's Travel Battle minis but I am discouraged from the lack of up close eye sight. Long story short, anyone have any advice for upclose vision that 4x readers really aren't helping?

In the past few years I have been painting les and less, one part due to time, another part not willing to admit I need bi-vocals. I have come to terms with my poor up close eye sight and now hve(had) transition lenses. Alas, these have become so scratched I had to switch back to my far-seeing glasses. I have 4x readers but I still have to have a miniature (28mm 40kOrk) inches from my face, not leaving much room for room for a brush. I have recently gotten the urge to,paint my Perry's Travel Battle minis but I am discouraged from the lack of up close eye sight. Long story short, anyone have any advice for upclose vision that 4x readers really aren't helping?

In the past few years I have been painting les and less, one part due to time, another part not willing to admit I need bi-vocals. I have come to terms with my poor up close eye sight and now hve(had) transition lenses. Alas, these have become so scratched I had to switch back to my far-seeing glasses. I have 4x readers but I still have to have a miniature (28mm 40kOrk) inches from my face, not leaving much room for room for a brush. I have recently gotten the urge to,paint my Perry's Travel Battle minis but I am discouraged from the lack of up close eye sight. Long story short, anyone have any advice for upclose vision that 4x readers really aren't helping?

Whoa! Bug or judicious hitting of the post button? Sorry!

Just out of curiousity, how well can you see without glasses?

I need my glasses for anything past two feet, but under two feet my vision is excellent

I would not be painting now, without an Optivisor.

I use inexpensive "readers" and have for 15 years. I need to hold the figure about 15 inches away from me to see them clearly. Mine are 1.5-1.75 depending on the pair and what I'm doing. I don't wear glasses other than for reading or to close in work.

Yep, really bad close up view and rubbish long range for that matter. So I also vote for the optivisor, easier than a magnifying ring light.

Optivisor

Optivisor

I've even seen improvement in my painting since I can now see the figures… :)

Ott light bulb or any other strong light.

Good lighting, definitely.
I have an optivisor, which I use some of the time.
My glasses--bifocals--do not allow my eyes to focus properly at painting distances, so I take them off to paint.
I tried one of those magnifiers on an arm, but it didn't work very well for me.

Grelber
No doubt, getting old sucks.

I do as Fusilier Dan does. Readers for painting are good enough for me (1-1.25)

I've got reading glasses now but I've had an optivisor for years. The arm-magnifier never really worked for me and just got dusty.

Replacing the scratched lenses might be in order.

Optivisor plus good/strong lighting.

I painted the handle on a bucket being carried by a 6mm artillerist yesterday and could see it clearly.

Proper pair of prescription specs for close up work. Tell the optician they are for close up distance- demonstrate what you do. Reading specs tend to be set up focusing for a little further away then our painting distance. A dcenet light preferably with a low flicker daylight ulb. Like others have said I have tried a magnifier and optivisor I have struggled with those although I will use the magnifier on very tricky bits.

Consider your undercoat- if painting on black it can be difficult to pick out details. Consider a light drybrush of a slightly lighter shade to help pick up the detail and lastly……paint to your vision. There is little point painting what you can't see without peering closely at them, mind you I have always done this anyway.

I wear trifocals and my depth perception is rather bad due to a lazy eye. I use a lighted magnifier on an arm and clip on magnifiers on my glasses. I occasionally use them in tandem. I also took a hint from Henry Hyde's book and have two sources of light on my bench to eliminate shadows.

Optivisor

I have old eyes and some astigmatism, but solved problem: good optician made me up bifocals set correct distance for painting. Has 1.5 magnify. Added x3 magnify cheap reading glasses in a wide frame which I wear over bifocals. Works like a charm even on 6mm figs.

I have no-line bifocal lenses and an Optivisor, so I don't have a better suggestion. Sorry. Good luck!

Optivisor here. I use it with a set of specific set of reading glasses too. I have to keep the visor at just the right spot in front of the glasses to get a perfect view, which is fiddly, but it works.

For me, magnification is less important than the quality of the glasses.

My advice – get an Ott light, and get a new pair of prescription transition lenses from a real optometrist. Yes, it is is expensive, but there is no substitute for having the right glasses.

I just replaced the lenses in my high-dollar transitional glasses. They were scratched as well – mostly from cleaning them on my shirt-tail instead of with a lens cloth. It makes a huge difference.

I have the "no line" bifocals and I wear a pair of drug store magnifier or reading glasses in front of them. I probably look stupid, but together they work fine for me. Without the magnifiers in front I can't cut it anymore.

Tom

Like Dan and a number of others, I use reading glasses (1.25) and they work great! Don't need glasses except for this and reading.

I am 49 and have pretty good vision, but about six years ago I started needing reading glasses (1.25 and for very small print 1.5). When I paint I use an optivisor and cheap Walmart reading glasses at the same time. The combination looks pretty stupid, but they get the job done. I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to paint. With a few minor adjustments you should be able to paint for many years to come.

Cheap reader glasses and a good light for me.

thanks all for the hints, I get new glasses next month (insurance renews in Jan.), so the scratched lenses will no longer be an issue, I will definitely look into all the suggestions here, thanks again!

I use 4.25 reading glasses, works fine for me.

Agreed on Optivisor and bright light.

I found my optivisor at a yard sale for a dollar! I washed it with ordinary dishwashing liquid soap. The lenses weren't scratched at all. It makes a huge difference in my painting comfort and quality, and my eyesight isn't all that bad.

When it's warm and sunny, I paint outside, sitting on my patio. The sun provides excellent light.

For painting indoors, I have a nice, bright, light on arm with a magnifier, but I don't usually use the magnifier, preferring my Optivisor. Setting up a second light can be helpful.

I was at the watchmaker's yesterday, and one of the guys at the bench had a loupe on a stiff wire that wrapped around his head and held the loupe in his eye socket. He could magnify his subject like 40 times, enough to paint stubble on an infantryman's face. I want one.

I have prescription reading glasses, but for painting I wear these ( link ) OVER the prescription ones. Works a charm.

Dude make a trip to the optometrist and get new glasses.

My wife bought me an Ott magnifying lamp recently. Works well.

PrivateSnafu:
Dude make a trip to the optometrist and get new glasses.

LOL! My prescription is perfect for reading or using a computer. They don't magnify enough for painting though.

Light, light and more light plus proper prescription glasses.
I find daylight LED desk lamps (5000k or so), rated at around 6 or 7 watts give enough light for my 70 year old eyes to paint figures from 6mm up to 28mm. I have (expensive) vari- focal prescription lenses and always tell the optician about my hobbies. Tried an Optivisor, hated it. I usually use white undercoat as it obscures less detail than black. I sometimes use black, but always drybrush with white to pick out details.

The vocabulary word for this topic is presbyopia, literally, "old eyes". I have it.

I use a magnifying lamp with a circular daylight bulb around the lens. It's 3 dioptre/ 1.75x magnification.

My eyesight's pretty good, but there's not a lot of natural daylight where I can sit to paint, and the days are short this time of year.

I tend to use it for the whole process, not just fine details, and didn't realise how much quicker painting is with it until today when the bulb flickered then died!

Bulbs last a long time, but they're about £10.00 GBP each and only available online where I live.

I use a magnifying lamp with a circular daylight bulb around the lens.

This is my preference too. I wear $4,500 USD prescription illuminated surgical loupes for work and really don't want to wear more gear on my head when at home. I normally wear progressive bi-focal glasses for seeing and the lamp accommodates them well.

Everyday glasses and an Optivisor with #3 lenses. I do know of one top class painter that uses a special set of glasses that have been prescribed to the focal length he paints at.