Tracing paper

logixoul

One forum member has had success gluing tracing paper to his phone screen. I decided to try the same but with my laptop screen.

So now I'm typing with a tracing paper sheet propped on my laptop screen (no glue).

This does totally cancel the polarization - I checked with my polarized glasses. Seems to reduce the eyestrain too. (I think I'm sensitive to polarized light)

My current problem is that I can't get the tracing paper to lay exactly on the screen - there's a ~4mm distance from the screen (on some parts of the paper). So these parts produce blur. Any idea how to overcome that problem without actually putting glue on my screen?

Mrak0020

logixoul I think I'm sensitive to polarized light

You can check that hypothesis with your 1) polarized glasses 2) IMAX glasses (they are build from two polarizers with different axis, giving your eyes two different images)
Tracing paper is also a diffuser. That could be the way it helped.

No ideas about the glue alternative, sorry

Seagull

Mrak0020

By blocking the unpolarised light, polarisers output only polarised light. This is how LCDs output polarised light.

logixoul

I did it by gluing the tracing paper to a screen protector, otherwise you could try sticking the sheet with a very small amount of cooking oil and tape around the edges.

bkdo

logixoul

That's really interesting, glad to hear it's reducing eye strain for you. How is the visibility of the screen through the paper? Is it still relatively usable?

I just ordered some tracing paper from Amazon, I'll definitely post my results when it arrives on fri.

logixoul

Mrak0020

Thanks! My polarized glasses don't depolarize the light, they just let light with the matching polarization through. So I'm not sure how that can help me test my hypothesis. Same with IMAX glasses.

Mrak0020

logixoul That is how polarizers work. Your glasses are a linear polarizer. If you use two linear polarizers on top of each other with 90 degrees angle, they will block the light completely. You can watch this effect on any of your tech that also has a linear polarizer built in. Just look trough the glasses and rotate either glasses or a screen.

logixoul

Mrak0020 Yes, that can prove that my screen emits polarized light. And my screen does (I did the experiment). But this experiment cannot show me whether the polarization is the cause of my eyestrain.

Mrak0020

When you wear your polarized glasses, you are looking at a polarized light. They are linear polarizers. The same way with IMAX glasses.
Polarizers do not polarize light, they block unpolarized light, if I am not mistaken.

logixoul

Mrak0020 All of that is true. But I still don't understand what I'm supposed to do with my polarized glasses in your opinion.

Should I just wear them everytime I look at a screen? Or should I use them as a source of information about my eyes? Or as a source of information about my displays?

Mrak0020

logixoul as a source of information about my eyes

This one. Light will pass through them polarized, and you can look everywhere (not on the screen; maybe read a book) and learn if your eyes react to polarized light per se. And try this with few different glasses.
This is what I meant with my first post.

logixoul

bkdo At the parts where the paper is in contact with the screen (like it should), visibility is very good. At the parts where there's a 2-3mm distance between the paper and the screen, visibility is very blurry (text is unreadable). So I'll probably try one of the options suggested by @Seagull. 🙂

Looking forward to hearing your results.

Edit: For good visibility, there shouldn't be much light falling on the paper itself. My only lighting is a lamp that sits behind the screen, illuminating the wall behind it.