Reflections from iPad

[andrew.sharratt.5]

Hi All
It's becoming more and more popular for speakers and musicians to use iPad's on stage. I find that this can cause distracting reflections on projection screens. Has anybody found a solution such as a stick-on screen protector that works?

 

[AxlD1234]

Would turning the screen brightness down on the device help with this?

 

[techieman33]

Would turning the screen brightness down on the device help with this?

No, the cause of things like this is the stage lighting hitting the glossy surface and reflecting on to whatever surface is in the way. He will need an anti-glare screen protector. I have no idea which ones actually work, and which ones are worthless though.

 

[seanandkate]

If you cut some diffusion like a Rosco 100 or 101 to lay directly overtop of the screen, you will still be able to read the iPad through it and the rougher surface might cut down on a fair bit of the reflection.

 

[Lextech]

This is going to crop up more and more as lower level productions use tablets and phones for monitor control, sheet music, control over effect devices and various other tasks. In a live music situation where it is their sheet music don't expect them to put any sort of diffusion or anything else for that matter over their device. It is you job as the LD to figure out the angles to minimize the problem. Another thing to consider is anyone besides you noticing the reflections? Often in a concert setting the things that bug us no one else notices or cares about. Well that is if the talent actually has any.

 

[Catwalker]

We put wax paper on top of everything reflective in our theatre, however I suspect putting paper or even gel onto an iPad would really annoy the people who have to use it. I would mainly then be echoing (echoing?) the above post, suggesting minimizing the glare with different lighting angles.

 

[Brandofhawk]

A couple of my friends buy a matte screen protector for their phones. It goes on and you can see through it perfectly but it cuts the reflections like a light hitting the screen and going into your eye. I wonder if it would help with the problem. It might be kinda expensive to purchase for every ipad / iphone / screen use that comes into the theatre as I don't know how re-application would work.

 

[andrew.sharratt.5]

Thanks for the ideas. I might just try a few of the matte protectors but was hoping somebody had already tried a few. I am mostly struggling with speakers who put iPads on lecterns. I have not managed yet to make the angles work to avoid reflections. Of course Lextech is right that I am probably the only one who notices -but it's our job to notice thing like this!