Tiny "scratched" area on LCD display of Olympus XZ-1
Discussion
Hi All
Very long story but Ive just bought a used camera on ebay which has a tiny scratch on the LCD display.
To be fair it was obvious in the advert so I dont intend to return it etc... Camera was chosen as I always loved the identical one I had before but sadly due to a careless incident on my behalf at Christmas just gone, I managed to trap the o-ring on the underwater chassis a tiny bit just before going on a dive in Indonesia, and by the time I'd got to 10mtrs depth and noticed the leak it was too late. I returned to the boat, emptied out about a tablespoon of water and dried the camera in rice and the sun etc... for the rest of the holiday. Sadly was to no avail, it never turned on again. Once I returned to the UK and had the camera professionally checked, but the salt water ingress was significant and all the PCBs and ports were corroded, so it was declared unrepairable.
As well as really loving the old camera (Olympus XZ-1) and being able to operate it almost blindfold, I had various diving accessories including the OEM underwater housing and wet macro lenses, most of which would be ditched if I started again. And there are also very few compact digital cameras sold today with oem underwater housings and wet lens threads (TG-6 being about the only one now). I'm a freediver so its important the camera is small enough to not interfere with my agility underwater and can be held and operated in one hand. And no, I didn't want an i-phone housing before anyone suggests that
So in the end I decided best route was to find a good one on ebay and replace with the same model.
Several weeks of lurking on ebay later, I finally spotted a good one and bought it, it arrived today.
So on inspecting it I am overall delighted with everything, but as noted in the advert there is a small area around 1mmX2mm where the LCD screen is a bit cloudy and scratched. The LCD display is working underneath so its surface damage only, making the area slightly cloudy / dull in appearance. There is nothing to feel so I'm not sure if a scratch is the best term to use, but it definitely looks like its been caused by being in contact with something - perhaps a SD-card holder placed in the bag with the camera - dunno? It's significantly less visible once the camera is on, but quite noticeable when its off and all black.
Of course I have no idea if the seller or prior owner had already tried something on the area. The screen appears to have an anti-glare finish over it too, so I'm keen not to remove that by polishing with anything too chemically harsh or abrasive as that would probably interfere more with my ability to see what Im shooting that the tiny area does.
So the question is, what if anything is the best product to use to try remove or reduce the scratched / cloudy area or am I better just leaving it be?
Cheers
Very long story but Ive just bought a used camera on ebay which has a tiny scratch on the LCD display.
To be fair it was obvious in the advert so I dont intend to return it etc... Camera was chosen as I always loved the identical one I had before but sadly due to a careless incident on my behalf at Christmas just gone, I managed to trap the o-ring on the underwater chassis a tiny bit just before going on a dive in Indonesia, and by the time I'd got to 10mtrs depth and noticed the leak it was too late. I returned to the boat, emptied out about a tablespoon of water and dried the camera in rice and the sun etc... for the rest of the holiday. Sadly was to no avail, it never turned on again. Once I returned to the UK and had the camera professionally checked, but the salt water ingress was significant and all the PCBs and ports were corroded, so it was declared unrepairable.
As well as really loving the old camera (Olympus XZ-1) and being able to operate it almost blindfold, I had various diving accessories including the OEM underwater housing and wet macro lenses, most of which would be ditched if I started again. And there are also very few compact digital cameras sold today with oem underwater housings and wet lens threads (TG-6 being about the only one now). I'm a freediver so its important the camera is small enough to not interfere with my agility underwater and can be held and operated in one hand. And no, I didn't want an i-phone housing before anyone suggests that
So in the end I decided best route was to find a good one on ebay and replace with the same model.Several weeks of lurking on ebay later, I finally spotted a good one and bought it, it arrived today.
So on inspecting it I am overall delighted with everything, but as noted in the advert there is a small area around 1mmX2mm where the LCD screen is a bit cloudy and scratched. The LCD display is working underneath so its surface damage only, making the area slightly cloudy / dull in appearance. There is nothing to feel so I'm not sure if a scratch is the best term to use, but it definitely looks like its been caused by being in contact with something - perhaps a SD-card holder placed in the bag with the camera - dunno? It's significantly less visible once the camera is on, but quite noticeable when its off and all black.
Of course I have no idea if the seller or prior owner had already tried something on the area. The screen appears to have an anti-glare finish over it too, so I'm keen not to remove that by polishing with anything too chemically harsh or abrasive as that would probably interfere more with my ability to see what Im shooting that the tiny area does.
So the question is, what if anything is the best product to use to try remove or reduce the scratched / cloudy area or am I better just leaving it be?
Cheers
I would just leave it be, it sounds to me as though the previous owner has noticed he scratch, and then used some sort of mildly abrasive polish to try and polish out the scratch which has left the area cloudy/hazy.
I'm not sure if you can get a screen protector for the LCD, but applying one of those may work well enough that you don't notice it. Try wetting the LCD screen to see if it reduces the cloudiness - if it does then a screen protector might work OK.
I've got some stone chips on my LCD (Canon), but I just live with them as you can only see them when the camera is switched off - it has no impact on viewing images on the read LCD.
I'm not sure if you can get a screen protector for the LCD, but applying one of those may work well enough that you don't notice it. Try wetting the LCD screen to see if it reduces the cloudiness - if it does then a screen protector might work OK.
I've got some stone chips on my LCD (Canon), but I just live with them as you can only see them when the camera is switched off - it has no impact on viewing images on the read LCD.
JohnS said:
I would just leave it be, it sounds to me as though the previous owner has noticed he scratch, and then used some sort of mildly abrasive polish to try and polish out the scratch which has left the area cloudy/hazy.
I'm not sure if you can get a screen protector for the LCD, but applying one of those may work well enough that you don't notice it. Try wetting the LCD screen to see if it reduces the cloudiness - if it does then a screen protector might work OK.
I've got some stone chips on my LCD (Canon), but I just live with them as you can only see them when the camera is switched off - it has no impact on viewing images on the read LCD.
Yeah, I was coming to the same conclusion myself. Looking at it closely I do think its likely a plastic SD card holder has done it.I'm not sure if you can get a screen protector for the LCD, but applying one of those may work well enough that you don't notice it. Try wetting the LCD screen to see if it reduces the cloudiness - if it does then a screen protector might work OK.
I've got some stone chips on my LCD (Canon), but I just live with them as you can only see them when the camera is switched off - it has no impact on viewing images on the read LCD.
As you say though its hardly noticeable and to be honest I only ever intend to use the camera underwater really, and by the time its in the housing and the screen turned on its totally invisible. But you know how these little things niggle at you, hence why I asked.
In the first few years I used it all the time, but as the years went by and iphones got better and better (I have a 12 Pro Max) it got to the point that I used that all the time for land pics. Underwater and macro shots of tiny 1mm long critters is an entirely different thing of course, so my XZ-1 carried on to be used for that purpose and brought much happiness. Until the damn o-ring got trapped and failed! Hey ho....
I've got some light scratches on my phone screen which are very visible when the screen is off or viewed at an angle, but invisible straight on, so I'd also be interested in a solution.
I have heard that toothpaste - plain white paste, not gel ones - has just the right level of abrasion, but I've yet to try it.
I have heard that toothpaste - plain white paste, not gel ones - has just the right level of abrasion, but I've yet to try it.
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