London-based Invisibility Shield Co has released a personal “invisibility shield” that can be yours for just £54 (about $68). Invisibility Shield 2.0 is available in Mini, Full and Megashield sizes.

How does it work?

The shield is a curved, high-quality clear polycarbonate sheet that is held upright by a clear polycarbonate frame on the back. A series of lenses are placed on this page, each extending from the top to the bottom of the screen.

When the user stands or crouches behind the device, the lenses distribute the ambient light reflected from their body across the entire front surface of the Shield. However, the lenses also scatter light reflected from the user’s background across the entire front.

Since the user is much more than their background, the light from the body is essentially suppressed by the light from the background. As a result, anyone looking at the Shield from the front sees only a diffused backlight that blends perfectly with the background image.

The shield works best if the user is wearing light-colored clothing and the background is fairly uniform in appearance; The horizontal lines in the background really help convey the illusion. No matter how far away the viewer is, the effect remains the same.

The original “stealth shield” was already used in such areas as hiding contestants on dating shows, avoiding detection while playing paintball, stage tricks, hiding small objects on an office desk for entertainment purposes, and wildlife monitoring. However, it should be noted that users cannot see their surroundings clearly thanks to the shield, they have to look through it.

The full-size Stealth Shield measures 99 x 69 cm, the Mega Shield measures 183 x 122 cm, and the Mini, which hides things like “small items on your desk”, measures 30.5 x 20 cm.

The Invisibility Shield 2.0 will be available for around £299 (about $378), the Megashield for £699 (about $883) and the Mini for £54 (about $68).