It’s a fact of modern life that anything you buy with an LCD screen has to be immediately covered with a screen protector. Buy a new iPhone, which Mr. Ive and his bunch of designers have sweated blood over for months to ensure that the display is optimal, and the first thing you do is cover it in plastic crap to protect the original surface.
In deference to Mr. Ive, I refused to do this my original iPhone 3GS, reckoning that his glass screen would be scratch-proof and I would enjoy an uninterrupted view of Angry Birds whist others stared squint-eyed through their plastic enshrouded sub-optimum phones. My feeling of superiority lasted about a month, by which time the first scratches appeared, and by the time I sold the phone it appeared to have spent its life in a holster made of barbed wire. Since then I have slapped on the plastic at the point of purhase.
It’s been the same with cameras which, although they live a more protected life than my phone, still manage to scrub up over time. My GX1 is on its third protective film and the view of the screen indicates that number four will not be far away. So when the E-M5 came along, a screen protector was required.
One of the features of buying a camera in Thailand is that there is usually some form of promotion involved with the purchase. Shops will never sell you just a camera; they insist you have a bag of associated goodies containing such precious items as a 1GB memory card so slow that it is no longer in production and a tripod of such flimsy construction that you would never risk putting a camera of any value on top of it. I have a cupboard full of crap tripods should anybody want one.
They were being less generous with the E-M5 (thank goodness, no tripod for a start), but they were offering an LCD screen cover.
The staff in local camera and phone shops are really good at affixing these protective covers. I have tried putting them on myself on a number of occasions and always end up with a misaligned sticky mess which I ultimately peel off and discard with a selection of swear words to send them on their way. No such problems for the shop staff. With barely a glance at the task at hand, they will chat to their friends, eat some snacks; and then present me with a perfectly aligned cover. Bastards.
And so it was with my E-M5 cover. It had been perfectly fitted to the camera; the only downside was that it was rubbish. Somehow it managed to reflect all the colours of the rainbow, plus a few colours that rainbows hadn’t thought of yet. In any sort of daylight it was hopeless, instead of seeing what was on the screen, I just saw a reflection of a frustrated old man squinting at the back of a camera and wishing he was somewhere darker.
And that’s the problem with all the free gifts they give you with cameras here; they are all worthless. I went back to the shop and asked if they had anything better which they were prepared to give me in exchange for some money. They weren’t. So, I ripped off the piece of crap plastic they had given me and went off to find a replacement.
Using advanced market research techniques and tools (I typed “best E-M5 screen protector” into Google); I discovered a few candidates, but they were out of stock or didn’t send to Thailand, or both. Then I discovered the PureMate Premium LCD Screen Protector, only $12.95 including shipping and well reviewed. I ordered one.
It came a couple of days and I have spent since then just looking at it.
The film comes with a little cloth to help prepare the screen and full instructions on how to fix it. But I know from experience that these instructions never cover the eventualities that I usually encounter when trying to do it myself. What to do when:
- The protector is fixed at a jaunty angle rather than straight.
- The dust-free environment has been contaminated by the arrival of two cats who want to “help”.
- There are more air bubbles than a bottle of 1952 vintage Moet & Chandon Champagne (or to be more realistic, a bottle of soda).
- I have totally destroyed the film whilst trying to install it, ripped it off in a fit of rage and thrown it in the rubbish. I now wish to rectify the situation.
This morning I could wait no longer. I cleaned the screen of the E-M5 with alcohol, waved around the little cloth and stuck the protector on the back of the screen.
My first attempt was a little wonky, my second attempt was straight, but there was now a tiny spot of dust on the screen which needed to be removed. Lift up the film, dealt with the dust and then a hair made an unwelcome appearance. Removed that and suddenly it was done and it looked great! In fact it didn’t look like anything at all, it was completely invisible, which is of course what you want.
In between the misalignment and the dust, I did notice that air bubbles that appeared during installation pushed out really easily; even in the amateur hands of yours truly, this is an easy protector to install, and the end result is excellent. Feels good to use with the touch-screen too, nice and smooth, just like glass.
Highly recommended; I am off to buy another one for when I have spent a few months giving this one the barbed wire treatment.
Comments 🔗
2015-04-02| ChristianPFC saystypo: whist others stared
2015-04-02| Grant saysFancy a nice game of whist then?