I have two pieces of art covered with museum glass, each by a different framing company at a different time. It's expensive stuff but works well, as a number of posters have indicated. Under artificial light, it's perfect and disappears.
However, under certain light in my living room, mostly daylight, one of the museum glass pictures now has a light green tint, and the other has a light blue tint. Other art in my living room not covered by museum glass, does not show these tints.
I don't know if this would appear on a computer display, but it may be something to be cautious about. You don't want a cure that is worse than the problem.
I have two pieces of art covered with museum glass, each by a different framing company at a different time. It's expensive stuff but works well, as a number of posters have indicated. Under artificial light, it's perfect and disappears.
However, under certain light in my living room, mostly daylight, one of the museum glass pictures now has a light green tint, and the other has a light blue tint. Other art in my living room not covered by museum glass, does not show these tints.
I don't know if this would appear on a computer display, but it may be something to be cautious about. You don't want a cure that is worse than the problem.
Basically, the issue isn't just with the outer glass. Its the combination of the reflective outer glass and the reflective LCD. When light hits the front of the iMac, some light bounces off the outside, and most goes through. The light that then passes through the outer glass then hits the inner panel. Most is absorbed and some gets reflected. Both reflections are combined and you see 2x the reflection you would get from a normal LCD panel.
Assuming the glass and LCD panels each reflect about 7% of the light that hits them, both panels combined would reflect approximately 13.5% of all incoming light (considering that the inner panel received 7% less light than the outer panel). Of course I have no idea how reflective each of these materials are exactly however this demonstrates the issue.
This is why the iMac is so insanely glossy. Most LCD's don't have an outer glass. By having a separate outer glass panel you get almost 2X the reflection compared with a normal glossy LCD.
Museum glass would have a very low amount of reflection, but there is still going to be some, so effectively it would still be worse than having no glass.
Ah I just called Apple and you can buy the glass panel if you like for around 225AUS$.. although thats including labour... and another additional piece for 125$ if youd like... although they do say you lose your warranty... you could still just get it in some way or the other and then take it to a glazier and get it cut...
This seems like a good solution and im not worried about the protection of the lcd panel as its only me thats sitting on the desk and its in a safe area.. im just worried about dust getting in.. or anything else in relation to this matter... would this casue major problems over time?
Ah I just called Apple and you can buy the glass panel if you like for around 225AUS$.. although thats including labour... and another additional piece for 125$ if youd like... although they do say you lose your warranty... you could still just get it in some way or the other and then take it to a glazier and get it cut...
This seems like a good solution and im not worried about the protection of the lcd panel as its only me thats sitting on the desk and its in a safe area.. im just worried about dust getting in.. or anything else in relation to this matter... would this casue major problems over time?
The LCD panel itself has a foam gasket that seals it against the glass. This keeps dust from getting between the glass and LCD, but if you cut the glass I believe it would also keep dust from getting into the computer. I'd put some kind of protective film on the screen though because it could scratch easily.
I've read all the comments on this thread and found it very interesting. I too hate the new mirror screens Apple is forcing us to use (if we want to stay within the Mac world). I have experimented with a number of possibilities including removing the front panel (which is not glass by the way, but some sort of acrylic material instead), which reduces the overall glare significantly (my guess by about 40%).
I have tried different films applied to the outside panel (terrible results with little improvement with low anti-glare films to awful red sparkles with the high anti-glare films (photodon films). I have tried applying the various films to the surface of the LCD itself. This has had better effects, and I settled on the MXH film from Photodon. This reduced glare slightly without any noticeable loss of graphic clarity. I would consider the higher rated MXT film if I had to do it over again. The red pixeling you see when film is applied to the outside panel does not exist with the MXH when applied to the LCD. I doubt even the MXT would be a problem if applied directly to the LCD itself. The film was much easier to apply than I suspected it would be and I completed the job w/o any bubbles at all.
I also had a piece of museum glass cut to size and replaced the front panel. I painted the outside edges black to cover up the hardware underneath, and are using it as I type this. From the outside it looks exactly like the original panel. The museum glass cuts down the reflection/glare by about 50% over the original Apple panel. I have contacted a fabricator to apply some metal strips on the glass to hold it tight in place and are confident it will be a very workable and attractive solution. Mind you, the film on the LCD and the museum glass in front together do not reduce reflection/glare to the level of our beloved matte screens, but it gets about half way there. I suspect it would achieve another 10% to 20% with a higher rated anti-glare film, but still not what Apple achieved with their old monitors.
Costs
The film from Photodon (which I had custom cut, and they did a great job) was about $45 or $50. The museum glass was about $125. The custom corner grinding was $15. I simply taped the glass once it was cut and shaped and spray painted the 1" outside edges with a black paint. I am still working to get some metal strips attached to the glass so that it is held firm. Overall, I expect to have some $275 to $300 invested in my new panel. It should be indistinguishable from the original once complete.
Overall, I'd say I've got about a 50% reduction in reflectivity and a 10% matte appearance on my monitor. If I had gone with the MXT film instead of the MXH, I think my overall performance would have been closer to 60% to 65% improvement.
I am also investigating other materials for the outside panel. Museum glass is good if you don't ship or move your machine much, but it would be a real breakage hazard if you did.
The gallery seems to be behind a login. It would be very interesting to see the difference in glare, especially when the screen is showing black. If only Apple put as much effort into reducing the glare as you have.
I know this is an old thread, but the July 2012 Macworld has something you may be interested in. Under the "Hot Stuff" category is this product: http://www.macframes.com
Comments
However, under certain light in my living room, mostly daylight, one of the museum glass pictures now has a light green tint, and the other has a light blue tint. Other art in my living room not covered by museum glass, does not show these tints.
I don't know if this would appear on a computer display, but it may be something to be cautious about. You don't want a cure that is worse than the problem.
I have two pieces of art covered with museum glass, each by a different framing company at a different time. It's expensive stuff but works well, as a number of posters have indicated. Under artificial light, it's perfect and disappears.
However, under certain light in my living room, mostly daylight, one of the museum glass pictures now has a light green tint, and the other has a light blue tint. Other art in my living room not covered by museum glass, does not show these tints.
I don't know if this would appear on a computer display, but it may be something to be cautious about. You don't want a cure that is worse than the problem.
Basically, the issue isn't just with the outer glass. Its the combination of the reflective outer glass and the reflective LCD. When light hits the front of the iMac, some light bounces off the outside, and most goes through. The light that then passes through the outer glass then hits the inner panel. Most is absorbed and some gets reflected. Both reflections are combined and you see 2x the reflection you would get from a normal LCD panel.
Assuming the glass and LCD panels each reflect about 7% of the light that hits them, both panels combined would reflect approximately 13.5% of all incoming light (considering that the inner panel received 7% less light than the outer panel). Of course I have no idea how reflective each of these materials are exactly however this demonstrates the issue.
This is why the iMac is so insanely glossy. Most LCD's don't have an outer glass. By having a separate outer glass panel you get almost 2X the reflection compared with a normal glossy LCD.
Museum glass would have a very low amount of reflection, but there is still going to be some, so effectively it would still be worse than having no glass.
This seems like a good solution and im not worried about the protection of the lcd panel as its only me thats sitting on the desk and its in a safe area.. im just worried about dust getting in.. or anything else in relation to this matter... would this casue major problems over time?
Ah I just called Apple and you can buy the glass panel if you like for around 225AUS$.. although thats including labour... and another additional piece for 125$ if youd like... although they do say you lose your warranty... you could still just get it in some way or the other and then take it to a glazier and get it cut...
This seems like a good solution and im not worried about the protection of the lcd panel as its only me thats sitting on the desk and its in a safe area.. im just worried about dust getting in.. or anything else in relation to this matter... would this casue major problems over time?
The LCD panel itself has a foam gasket that seals it against the glass. This keeps dust from getting between the glass and LCD, but if you cut the glass I believe it would also keep dust from getting into the computer. I'd put some kind of protective film on the screen though because it could scratch easily.
I have tried different films applied to the outside panel (terrible results with little improvement with low anti-glare films to awful red sparkles with the high anti-glare films (photodon films). I have tried applying the various films to the surface of the LCD itself. This has had better effects, and I settled on the MXH film from Photodon. This reduced glare slightly without any noticeable loss of graphic clarity. I would consider the higher rated MXT film if I had to do it over again. The red pixeling you see when film is applied to the outside panel does not exist with the MXH when applied to the LCD. I doubt even the MXT would be a problem if applied directly to the LCD itself. The film was much easier to apply than I suspected it would be and I completed the job w/o any bubbles at all.
I also had a piece of museum glass cut to size and replaced the front panel. I painted the outside edges black to cover up the hardware underneath, and are using it as I type this. From the outside it looks exactly like the original panel. The museum glass cuts down the reflection/glare by about 50% over the original Apple panel. I have contacted a fabricator to apply some metal strips on the glass to hold it tight in place and are confident it will be a very workable and attractive solution. Mind you, the film on the LCD and the museum glass in front together do not reduce reflection/glare to the level of our beloved matte screens, but it gets about half way there. I suspect it would achieve another 10% to 20% with a higher rated anti-glare film, but still not what Apple achieved with their old monitors.
Costs
The film from Photodon (which I had custom cut, and they did a great job) was about $45 or $50. The museum glass was about $125. The custom corner grinding was $15. I simply taped the glass once it was cut and shaped and spray painted the 1" outside edges with a black paint. I am still working to get some metal strips attached to the glass so that it is held firm. Overall, I expect to have some $275 to $300 invested in my new panel. It should be indistinguishable from the original once complete.
Overall, I'd say I've got about a 50% reduction in reflectivity and a 10% matte appearance on my monitor. If I had gone with the MXT film instead of the MXH, I think my overall performance would have been closer to 60% to 65% improvement.
I am also investigating other materials for the outside panel. Museum glass is good if you don't ship or move your machine much, but it would be a real breakage hazard if you did.
You can see my work and pictures at: http://www.photoworks.com/my-photowo...bums/104296917
kenh@advancedhealthgroup.com
You can see my work and pictures at: http://www.photoworks.com/my-photowo...bums/104296917
The gallery seems to be behind a login. It would be very interesting to see the difference in glare, especially when the screen is showing black. If only Apple put as much effort into reducing the glare as you have.
Yes, sorry. Here is a link that should take you to the pictures. You can blow them up to full screen or leave them the way they are. Try this:
http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/...CS_003=4433951
Ken
I know this is an old thread, but the July 2012 Macworld has something you may be interested in. Under the "Hot Stuff" category is this product: http://www.macframes.com
(wtf is wng with huddler and it won't display : ) smiley face?)