diff --git a/examples/fmm-error.py b/examples/fmm-error.py
index 110ec66bc166b9efc35b83e72f11584f07c7d5ee..c3350786b6464b3b20b5f9e8d740cf74185e9cf1 100644
--- a/examples/fmm-error.py
+++ b/examples/fmm-error.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def main():
 
     import matplotlib
     matplotlib.use('Agg')
-    im = fplot.show_scalar_in_matplotlib(np.log10(np.abs(err)))
+    im = fplot.show_scalar_in_matplotlib(np.log10(np.abs(err) + 1e-17))
 
     from matplotlib.colors import Normalize
     im.set_norm(Normalize(vmin=-12, vmax=0))