All the major 3D apps have a "headlight" feature.
Well, Softimage and Lightwave call it "headlight", while Max and Maya call it default lighting. I'm sure C4D has something similar, but I've never tried C4D.
Whatever you call it, the end result is the same - a scene which is lit so you can see what's going on to make adjustments without having to rely only on your actual scene lighting.

In LW and Softimage, turning the headlight on or off is an option. When off, you only see your scene by its own lighting, in OpenGL. With it on, you can see everything, and the headlight will not render, will not cause any lighting changes in your render.

In Max and Maya, you can switch back and forth between the default light, which is a similar, global lighting thing, and your regular scene lighting. In those apps, you can render with all lights, or your default light only.

In Poser, we've had to deal with ONLY scene lighting to see what's going on in our scenes. So if you have no lights in the back of your scene, or dim lights, and you want to see what's going on back there, you have to move an existing light or create a new light. Then, you have to remember to turn it off before rendering, assuming you don't want a light in that location.

This has been a problem for me all along - encountering situations where I need to see an area which is lit just right from the camera perspective, but not at all in an area I need to adjust and work on.

But I finally figured it out. Gee, and it only took me ten years. ;-)

Create a camera and zero out all the settings, then create a spotlight and zero it out too. The spotlight should be very close to the new camera settings, and you can look through its "shadow cam" to match your camera's view. Then you just parent it to that camera and, voila, you now have a light which will always be shining on what you're looking at through that camera. A headlight, maybe more like a mining helmet light. And by adjusting its end angle, you can make it wider, similar to lowering the focal length of your camera.

Still have to remember to turn it off before rendering though. It would be great now to have a script that automatically turns a specific light or lights off before rendering and back on afterwards. I don't know if that's possible though.

The above notwithstanding, if there are any Smith Micro Poser Development types reading this, I really really really think it would be a great idea if the next version of Poser had such a "headlight" feature.
For all I know maybe Poser 8 does, but I didn't see it in the list of improvements and changes, so I'm assuming it doesn't.

It's not just for me. The entire Poser community will love it. It's not just by accident that all the major apps have such a feature. ;-)

If you think it's a great idea you should take the time and suggest that to smith micro via their website... 

I'm going to, most likely. I have a whole list I'm still trying to complete. ;-)

But the above was just an afterthought. I made the first post for anyone who's had the same need for such a thing as I have and hasn't thought it up yet.

I agree this would be good to have.

It should be possible for a Python coder to write a single-button solution that you could put on your Python Palette. First click loads the camera and light into the scene with the light switched on, every subsequent click toggles the light off or on.

Anyone care to have a go?
Sell it for a dollar, make millions.
Okay... make tens.
Better still, give it away and make friends.

Needs to be something more than just a button to click every time, or that could be just as easily forgotten too. My main problem with doing this now is I forget to turn it off before rendering sometimes, so there needs to be a script that turns it on at all times, leaves it in the scene and on at all times, but turns it off once the render is begun. And back on after it finishes.

Not asking much, am I? ;-)

I know virtually nothing about Python scripting, so I have no idea if the above is anywhere near approaching the realms of what's possible.

I love this idea! Matter of fact, I put something similiar to this on a future Poser wishlish on another thread.

In the meantime, this will work! Thanks!

I'm not sure Poser Python has all the callbacks necessary, and I've suggested that it should, but if Poser could notify a Python script when rendering starts and ends, when objects are loaded or deleted, etc. many intelligent behaviors could be made possible.

If the callback exists for render starting and ending, then a fairly trivial script could look for a light called "headlight" and automatically manage it. If the callbacks do not exist, then an option would be to only render via a scripted button. Actually that's not a bad plugin to make for P8. I have a bunch of optional things I'd like to happen before and after a render, and I'd like faster control to change render dimensions, render settings, without dialogs, just hit a preset button.

Hmmmm.

I just have an extra infinite light in the scene called "WORK LIGHT" that I turn off at render time, it doesn't bother me.

Quote -
I just have an extra infinite light in the scene called "WORK LIGHT" that I turn off at render time, it doesn't bother me.

That's what I've been doing too. Well, was doing.
The problem with that is I still had to rotate it around and point it at what I want to see. I don't have to do that now.
And of course we have the OpenGL problem too. In the apps I mentioned above, the"head lighting" is independent of OpenGL, since it's not really a light.
In Poser, once you reach 8 lights, forget it, that's all you get to use to see with. Not a Poser limitation, but an OpenGL limitation.  I do the same thing you've mentioned recently - multiple lights very close together to simulate area lights, or shadow spread, so it's not unusual that I might have well beyond 8 lights in a scene.

What a great idea! I hate being in the middle of grouping a prop and having to add a light so that the face I'm grouping shows up red! I wonder if you can save a camera with a light attached for reloading whenever you want it? Or I guess you parent a spotlight and save it as a Smart Light for the camera?

This is slightly OT, but relevant. The thought was triggered by bb's phrase "a bunch of optional things".

I recall early last year one of my customers asking for a new tickbox on their Client Information screen to identify what they called "Special Clients" who needed extra attention. I refused to do it, without attempting to explain why - sometimes it just doesn't help. They were a bit miffed at me, but I asked them to be patient, and in the meantime to start thinking about how many different ways a client could be "special".

A week later, I gave them a new window where they could specify any number of "special" categories, sign up each client to any of them, and prepare a targeted mailshot to all the clients within a particular category. By the time I'd extended their database and finished installing the new program on all their PCs they were excitedly reviewing all their clients and ticking the boxes on more than a dozen categories.

So I like the implication of that "Hmmmm"!

Quote - In Poser, once you reach 8 lights, forget it, that's all you get to use to see with. Not a Poser limitation, but an OpenGL limitation. 

There's actually a new feature in Poser 8 where you can set lights to be included or excluded from preview.  I haven't set up a scene with more than 8 lights so I hadn't actually gotten use out of it but you might want to check it out.  It's a property on each light, in the Properties tab.

Would have been a lot nicer if they had gone on to add a property for "show/hide in render" ...

thats a fantastic idea.

For those too lazy to set up a Poser head lamp, I just use a point light for my work light. It points in all directions, so does not need to be aimed.

if a point light is behind your object it wont light.

Then I use two of them. ;-) But that's really rare.

It makes for a pretty interesting effect if you do like I said in my first post but actually use it as a scene light. If you use shadows on it, it creates a strong sense of depth for anything the camera is looking directly at, as the shadows are all in line with the light. Kinda like the opposite of rim lighting.
And it seems specular highlights will always be facing towards you.

Definitely something you couldn't see in reality, unless you were a flashlight. ;-)

You could offset the light from the parent camera actually, to whatever angle you might like, and as you move the camera it will stay the same.

Yeah I've been doing that too. Very cool effect.