One very cool thing about writing a photo gear and tutorial blog is that I get asked to review cool products. While perhaps not the most glamorous of topics, screen protection is one that can make a lot of practical sense. For a minimal investment, you can insure the longevity of your screens, protecting them from other things in your pockets, camera bags, backpacks, purses, etc. With newer technology, and seemingly everything with a screen at this point being touch capacitive, keeping screens clean and scratch free is harder than it’s ever been. Enter Expert Shield, the company aiming to provide the best screen protecters in the biz. C’mon in to find out more…

ALL YOUR SCREENS ARE BELONG TO US!

Many of our daily doo dads revolve around a screen, and our interaction with these devices can record many hours a day. A simple protector can help add piece of mind.

I was emailed by Ed Tyson (super cool name), the self proclaimed “Office Astronaut” at Expert Shield to see if I was interested in testing out a few of their screen protectors for my various cameras and devices. Not knowing exactly what “testing” would mean, I agreed and received a few different, device specific screen protectors to try. Once on, I realized that I’d gained a bit of insurance I’d not really thought about and actually using these protectors has shown me that they do not hinder the interaction in any way, and in ways actually enhance it by way of sheer resiliency when wanting to wipe these things clean.

I will say this, you best follow the directions closely. I thought (like I often do) that I could figure it out on the fly and went on trying to apply an Expert Shield to my iPhone after doing what I thought would be the proper preparatory steps necessary (basically cleaning my screen) and proceeded to screw it up rendering my first try and my first screen protector a complete failure. Lesson: Follow Directions

The directions clearly state a simple, step by step application which I’d highly suggest abiding by. Another key piece of advice I was then given was to apply these screen protectors in the bathroom, just after a shower had been run. While that sounded odd, the reasoning made perfect sense as the steam and moisture completely settles any dust, keeping you from having to continually blow a few minor pesky dust particles from your screen (believe me, dust is everywhere). Another thing that I had luck with, was thoroughly washing my hands to remove as much oil and dirt from my finger tips. This all sounds rather high maintenance, and you’d be mostly right in thinking so, but I’ll tell you, if you want one of these things to bond properly (and if you buy one, you certainly should want this) you will want to follow these directions. After I botched my first attempt, and felt rather frustrated with my inability to “figure it out” as well as with the product itself, actually following directions proved to be an eye opener.

Above you see (or may not be able to see) my screen protector on my Olympus OM-D E-M5. I have had this on there for weeks now and to be honest, I’ve forgotten that it was even on there. No need to worry about any scuffs, scratches or dings which is especially reassuring as I’m planning a few hikes this summer (stay tuned for some fun stuff on that in the near future) and getting my cameras, phone and iPad protected will come in handy as I’m cramming them in and grabbing them out of my pack.

I have always been curious as to why so many Nikon cameras that I see out and about have those huge, plastic LCD screen protectors on there. It has always seemed kind of crazy, or at least, bulky, and until I scratched the LCD on my old 5D, I hadn’t really thought about screen protection. Honestly, most all of my cameras have a nick or scratch on the LCD as I’m not exactly one to baby my gear. So, Nikonians rejoice. No longer will you need to look silly with that giant plastic thing on the back of your camera, even though you’ve been the smart ones all along as the rest of us have been dinging up our LCD screens for years!

Do the Expert Shield Screen Protectors affect the touch capacitive screens in any way? : Answer, yes, it makes them better. All those gross, nose and finger grease smudges on your screen are easier to wipe off. Also, it has no affect on the touch interaction in any way.

Are the Expert Shield Screen Protectors a little bit of a pain in the ass to apply? : Answer, a little bit, but if you do it right, it’s pretty easy, and once it’s done, you’re good to go.

Yeah, but what about those damn, pesky bubbles? – Answer, follow the directions and don’t end up cussing at your phone like I did. It makes you look crazy and may upset your kids, pets or neighbors.

Most of these guys will run you about $10, depending on your device, it’s size and all that and many qualify for free shipping. Visit www.ExpertShield.com to see all the various screen protectors for cameras, tablets, phones and just about anything else you can think of with a screen.

While this is a little late for a Father’s Day present (for us here in the US), shouldn’t we really be willing to drop a tenner on our dads whenever?*

(*this comment may actually be written to influence my children in the future when they randomly stumble across this in some search archive. Kids, be cool to your dad, he put up with a lot of stuff and you are large reasons for necessitating this type of extra screen protection in the first place. A fork is not a good way to take care of the angry birds .)

Thanks for the read and happy shooting!

Tyson