Paint in true colour
at ten at night.
A Serious Light puts the full daylight spectrum on your painting, so the colours you mix at night are the colours you see in the morning. With 98% colour accuracy, colour matching stops being a guess. It stands beside your easel, or sits on your work table. Try one at home for up to 90 days.
The full daylight spectrum on your painting, so night colours match morning colours. Try one at home for up to 90 days.
Alex Pratt OBE | Founder
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm
Summer clearance: selected artist lamps half price
What changes when you switch on an HD Light.
When the colours get harder to judge in the evenings, most people put it down to their eyes, and paint a little less each year without ever deciding to. After forty years we can tell you it is usually the light. These are the three changes Serious Light owners name most.
Night colours match morning colours.
You mix under 98% colour accuracy, so the wash you lay at ten at night is the wash you find on your easel the next morning.
The values read true.
Shadow, midtone and highlight hold their order under the full spectrum, in oil, watercolour or pencil.
You paint as long as you want to.
The beam sits over your work rather than in your eyes, so the session ends when you choose.
The Serious Readers story
I built the first HD Light for my mum.
By 1988 our lights were already on production lines and in laboratories, and then my mum began losing her sight to macular degeneration. I built her the first High Definition home reading light so she could carry on reading, and stay independent, in her own chair.
Every light on this page descends from hers. You do not build a cheap lamp for your mum; you build the best one you can, and then you spend forty years making it better. That is still the rule for every artist lamp we make, and it is why we take the colours on your easel more seriously than anyone.
This is the difference on your page.
An ordinary bulb only looks white. It leaves gaps across the spectrum, and your eyes work to fill them in. We call that junk light. Daylight has no gaps, and Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds it with 98% accuracy, flicker-free. That is what makes a true colour lamp different from a brighter bulb.
An ordinary bulb only looks white. It leaves gaps across the spectrum, and your eyes work to fill them in. Daylight has no gaps. Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds it with 98% accuracy, flicker-free.
Customers living with AMD and cataracts tell us print looks sharper and higher in contrast under one. The home trial lets you check that against your own eyes.
See the half-price lightsBuilt to be the best, not the cheapest.
We aim to build the best artist lamp there is, not the cheapest: a high-grade, reliable tool for people who need or want the best light they can have. Nothing is priced for show. The price buys a flicker-free light engine that rebuilds daylight to 98% colour accuracy, an arm that holds exactly where you set it, and parts built to be repaired rather than replaced, fifty a day in our Aylesbury workshop.
Lights supplied by Serious have been chosen for the British Museum, operating theatres and the Heathrow control tower, and the philatelists at Stanley Gibbons grade their stamps under them. A warranty is only worth the company standing behind it: ours has been building and repairing these lights for forty years. The terms are hard ones: five years on the light, a lifetime warranty on the arm, and when something goes wrong we repair it or we replace it.
▶ See how the light works
Our most popular artist lamp.
An ordinary studio lamp shifts every colour you mix. A Serious Light puts the real daylight spectrum on your work. If you paint or draw most evenings, or colour matters to your work, we built this for you. Most people choose the HD Original, half price in White while summer stock lasts, as a floor light or a table light.
If you paint or draw most evenings, we built this for you. Most people choose the HD Original, half price in White, as a floor or a table light.
HD Original
Shape the beam to fit your page, dim it to the exact level your eyes want, and the memory brings both back at your next switch-on, so the light is already right when you sit down.
Shape the beam, set your level, and the memory brings both back at your next switch-on.
Perfect for the easel, and the work table beside it.
From about 12p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trialAbout 11p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trial90 days to paint by it at your own easel
5-year warranty, lifetime on the arm, and a replaceable light engine
Free delivery, and it arrives fully built
Hand-built in Great Britain
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Learn more about this light
Floor light specifications
Heavyweight (most popular): 152cm, 6kg, 23cm base.
Lightweight: 144cm, 3kg, 20cm base.
3,600–7,200 lux at 50cm depending on beam width. 98% CRI, 4,000K, 630 lumens. Flicker-free.
Replaceable light engine, 5-year guarantee, lifetime guarantee on the arm. 7.2 watts, pennies a week to run.
See our other models.
HD Pro
The finest control of the three. Shape the beam, dim it with real precision, and add the optional remote, or the optional battery that runs it fully cordless.
The finest control of the three, with an optional remote and an optional battery that runs it fully cordless.
Perfect for readers who want the remote in one hand, or no cable at all.
That is about 19p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trialAbout 12p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 90-day home trial90-day home trial
5-year warranty, lifetime on the arm, and a replaceable light engine
Free delivery
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Click to view specifications
152cm, 4.8kg. Quick-change cordless battery in the base, arm slots out for servicing. Optional carpet feet.
Replaceable light engine, 5-year guarantee. 7 watts, pennies a week to run.
HD Essential
Small print is easy again, in our simplest light: full Serious daylight with a fixed wide beam and a press-and-hold dimmer.
Our simplest light, with a fixed wide beam and a press-and-hold dimmer. You switch it on, you sit down, and you read.
Perfect for everyday drawing and reading by your chair.
From about 11p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 30-day home trialFrom about 10p a night over the five-year warranty.
Start my 30-day home trial30-day home trial
5-year warranty, lifetime on the arm
Free delivery
Hand-built in Great Britain
Quote WEB2606 at checkout or on the phone
Click to view specifications
Heavyweight (most popular): 152cm, 6kg, 23cm base.
Lightweight: 144cm, 3kg, 20cm base.
Replaceable LED bulb rated for three years of life, under a 5-year warranty on the light. 6 watts, pennies a week to run.
Not sure which one? Answer six quick questions.
Tell us how you work, and we will point you at the right light.
What will you do under it?
Choose all that apply
How do your eyes feel right now?
Choose one
What frustrates you about your current light?
Choose all that apply
Will it stay put, or move around the house?
Choose one
Once you are settled, do you mind reaching up to adjust it?
Choose one
Where will your light live?
Choose one
For the way you work, we recommend
Not what you expected? Call free on 0800 032 9364 and an adviser will help you choose.
Not all light is the same.
We fuss over mattresses, diet and exercise, yet light rarely gets a thought. We have spent forty years on nothing else.
We have spent forty years on nothing but the light you paint by.
An ordinary studio lamp shifts every colour you mix under it.
It is not about brightness. An ordinary bulb gives out a thin, uneven slice of daylight, so print flattens, colour drains, and your eyes strain to fill the gaps. That is junk light.
Read how the light works
True daylight, indoors, makes every colour true.
Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds the full spectrum of noon daylight with 98% accuracy, so black print turns crisp on white, down to the smallest type. See the independent research.
Built to put the light exactly where you want it.
The head swivels through 350 degrees to bring the beam over your shoulder, slow-start technology fades it up gently, and every adjustment holds exactly where you set it.
What opticians tell their patients.
More than 500 UK opticians recommend a Serious Light to their patients. These five say why.
Lighting has a huge impact on our ability to see. Serious Readers lights are well designed, simple to use, and provide accurate colour and detail representation.
Serious Reader Lights simulate strong natural daylight, relieving eye fatigue and improving reading. The range of styles, warranty and customer care means I recommend with confidence.
The clarity a Serious Readers lamp provides is second to none. Patients are amazed at the difference. Just like correct prescription glasses, the right lighting is so important.
Serious Lights are among the best I have come across. They provide natural, high quality light that improves comfort and clarity, easily adjusted to direct light exactly where needed.
The right light is as important as the right glasses. It reduces strain for close work, vital for anyone with cataracts or macular degeneration. Patients really appreciate the difference.
What owners tell us.
From more than 10,000 five-star reviews.
We now have 4. Once you've tried them, you can't revert to ordinary lamps.Mrs Fisher, Devon
▶ Hear what owners have to say.
“I have AMD and have not read a book for over 2 years. Now I have.”
Mrs Simmonds, Guildford
“It's like being given a new set of eyes.”
Mr Hurford, Lincolnshire
“Worth every penny. I wish I'd bought one years ago.”
Mr Ross, Bridlington
You'll be in good company.
Household names read their scripts and manuscripts by it. Lifeboat crews, air traffic controllers and telescope engineers work under it. When yours arrives, you will share a light with every one of them.
The artist lamp beside your easel carries the same engineering.
Before you order.
A few straight answers.
What makes these different from an ordinary lamp?
Two things. The light itself: Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds natural daylight to 98% colour accuracy, which an ordinary bulb cannot manage at any brightness.
And the engineering that delivers it: a beam built to land on your page at reading distance, shaped and dimmed to your eyes. Print stays sharp and colours stay true, however small the type. The home trial lets you compare the two at your own easel.
Which is the best lamp for painting?
For most people the best artist light here is the HD Original, and it is the one most of our customers choose. It shapes the beam, dims without steps and remembers both settings, which covers almost everything you will do under it. If you want one rule, the best artist lamp is the one that rebuilds daylight.
Pick the HD Pro instead if you want the remote or the cordless battery, and the HD Essential if you want the same daylight at the lowest price. All three are true daylight lamps carrying the same spectrum; what changes is how much control you get over it.
Will it help with macular degeneration or cataracts?
Our lights are not medical devices. What they do is put far more usable light on your page.
Customers living with AMD, cataracts and age-related vision change tell us print looks sharper and higher in contrast under one. The home trial lets you find out with your own eyes.
Is it colour accurate enough for painting?
Colour accuracy is the whole reason it exists. Daylight Wavelength Technology™ rebuilds the spectrum with 98% CRI, so the colours you mix under it at night are the colours on your easel in the morning. Watercolour washes, oil glazes, drawing and calligraphy values all read true.
Artists use it as a true colour lamp for colour matching in the art studio and sketching in the evening. It is the same light either way.
How bright is it, in numbers?
Measured at 50cm, the HD Original puts between 3,600 and 7,200 lux on your page. Narrow the beam for the smallest print and the light concentrates to 7,200 lux; spread it wide across your newspaper and it holds 3,600. Colour accuracy is 98% CRI, which is why print stays black and colours stay true.
The light engine is flicker-free and it all dims, so the maximum is there when your eyes want it and turned down when they do not.
No web page can prove any of this properly, which is exactly why the trial exists. Paint under one at your own easel for up to 90 days, and if it is not for you, we collect it free and refund you.
Start my 90-day home trialMore questions
Should I choose the floor light or the table light?
It depends on where you work. A floor light stands beside your easel and reaches over the canvas, lighting it evenly without glare back at you. A table light does the same over a drawing board or a work table.
Both carry the same daylight, so it is your studio that decides, not the light.
How do the lights compare?
Every light here carries the same Daylight Wavelength Technology™ and the same 5-year warranty. What changes is the control you get over the beam: how you shape it, dim it and direct it. Here are the three side by side.
Most popular
HD Original
Our most popular reading light
|
HD Pro
Our latest and best
|
HD Essential
Daylight made simple
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | All-round reading | Cordless and remote | Honest simplicity |
| Offer | Up to half price | Up to half price | Up to half price |
| Finishes | Black or White | Black only | Black or White |
| Beam | Adjustable, shapeable | Adjustable, shapeable | Wide, even, fixed |
| Dimming | Stepless with memory | Stepless with memory | Press-and-hold |
| Remote & cordless | ✕ | ✓ optional | ✕ |
| Home trial | 90 days | 90 days | 30 days |
| Warranty | 5 years, lifetime arm | 5 years, lifetime arm | 5 years, lifetime arm |
| You save | Up to £225 | Up to £225 | Up to £200 |
| Table light price | From £199.99 | From £224.99 | From £174.99 |
| Floor light price | From £224.99 | £349.99 | From £199.99 |
| Start my 90-day trial | Start my 90-day trial | Start my 30-day trial |
HD Original
Our most popular reading light
HD Pro
Our latest and best
HD Essential
Daylight made simple
What bulb does it take, and what does it cost to run?
All three artist lamps here run on LED, which is why a lamp this bright costs pennies a week. The HD Original and HD Pro use a replaceable light engine rather than a bulb, and the HD Essential takes a replaceable LED bulb.
A bright reading lamp built this way runs cool enough to sit beside you all evening, and you are not up a stepladder changing a bulb every year.
Why do they cost more than an ordinary lamp?
Almost none of it is the shell. You pay for the daylight spectrum, an arm and dimming that hold where you set them, and a build made to last, with a five-year warranty on the light, a lifetime warranty on the arm, and a forty-year-old company standing behind both. An ordinary lamp is built down to a price; this one is built to read under for years. The home trial lets you judge it at home before you commit.
Why are they so much cheaper right now?
Summer is the quiet season, so we run our strongest prices of the year to keep the workshop busy. These are current lights, brand new and boxed, not seconds or old stock.
White started the summer as our biggest stock, which is why it carries the deepest cut, and at half price it is now the finish selling quickest. When these prices end, they end.
How long does delivery take?
UK delivery takes five to seven working days by tracked courier, free on every light in this clearance.
The Original and Essential arrive fully built, and the Pro's arm simply slots into its base. Either way, you plug it in and read the same evening.
The strongest prices of the year end on 30th September.
The reason to try one is the difference it makes to your painting. The price is what makes trying one easy: up to half price with code WEB2606, at checkout or by phone. White is selling quickest, and when these prices end, they end.
Start my 90-day home trial90 days to paint by it at home. If it is not for you, we collect it free and refund you. Five years on the light, lifetime on the arm.
Or call free on 0800 032 9364, Mon–Fri 8:30am–5:30pm.