Review of Fotodiox LCD Cover Protector for Nikon
Half the price but not half the product
This LCD cover does exactly what I need it to do and it does so for half the price of the brand name.
As a photojournalist of a local newspaper, I often find myself at the scenes of accidents, fires or other challenging venues. Because I am interested in getting the best shots that I can, it's not uncommon for me to walk a couple of miles or more when covering a wildland fire. Because of assignments like this sometimes result in the loss of items such as lens caps, lens hoods and LCD covers, I have found myself perplexed by the amount it costs to replace these small plastic items. The brand name items almost always cost nearly twice the price or more of the off brand items. Such is the case with the LCD cover for the Nikon D300s. While I don't mind paying for quality, (after all I did chose the Nikon brand for exactly that), I do mind paying twice the price for nearly the same performance. In my view, LCD covers are meant to be sacrificial items taking the scratches, chips and thumps, rather than the LCD display on the camera itself. There is no reason such an item should cost over 8 dollars.
The Fotodiox cover does exactly what it's supposed to do. It snaps on and fits perfectly on my D300s and there is little more that you can ask from a product of this nature. Though I did not pull out the calipers to measure this cover, it appears to me to be very close to the original Nikon in construction and sturdiness. It has never popped off the back of my camera.
The only flaw that I noted in this product (and it is a minor one) is that there was a slight rainbow effect in the plastic when viewed at a slight angle. In daily use, this has not resulted in any problems for me but if I want to be absolutely certain of an artsy style photo, I will remove the LCD cover from the camera. If I was doing studio or portrait photography as often as I do photojournalism, I would probably not be as happy with this cover, but for me it's simply a way to inexpensively protect my investment.
Click to view the Fotodiox Clear LCD Cover Protector, Replacement for Nikon D300, D300s Camera on Amazon.com.
