Digital Frames

This material is excerpted from the forthcoming book Displaying & Sharing your Digital Photographs. If you would like to be notified when the book is published click the link below to send me an e-mail: E-mail me when the Displaying & Sharing book is published To see the book's tentative table of contents, click the link below: Show me the table of contents for the Displaying and Sharing book

One of the futurist forecasts back in the 1950s was thin TV sets that would hang on the walls. For decades nothing happened, and TVs got bigger and fatter every year. It’s just within the past few years that the first few hints of the future began to appear. One of these hints is the tabletop flat-panel frame that displays slide shows, movies, and other information. Thin they may be, but cheap they aren’t. However, if you want have an ever changing picture show of your images, you might want to check into these devices. One of them even lets you change the images from anywhere in the world. Imagine a frame on grandma’s desk with new photos every morning when she gets up!

A variety of frames available from digi-Frame.

Here are some of the things to think about when considering a digital photo frame:

Networking. Some frames are designed to stand alone with images fed to the screen from a memory card inserted into the frame. To put a show together, you use a memory card reader and copy images from your computer to the card, then remove the card from the reader and insert it into the frame. Other frames are designed to be connected to a phone line so images can be sent to it from other computers on the Internet. If the device does connect to the Internet, the questions then get more complicated because there are differences in available content and in on-going subscription services to use the network. For example, StoryBox (also sold by Kodak as the Smart Picture Frame) lets you view news, weather, traffic, sports and entertainment as well as photos. It even lets you order prints through Print@Kodak.

Internet connected frames are great, but they are not effortless. You or someone else has to upload images to an on-line account before they can be sent to a frame. Ideally, you would also format the images first to make them the right size.

Wireless option lets you send photos to the frame from a computer on your home Wi-Fi network.

Number of Images. Some frames, especially those that connect to the Internet, have their own internal memory that limits the number of images that can be stored and displayed. Other frames use removable memory cards and the number of images is limited only by the storage capacity of the cards.

Portability. Some frames are designed to plug into the wall and others can run off batteries. Those that run off batteries can be used in the field to review photos as well as display them at home.

Size and resolution. One of the key determinants of price is the size and resolution of the screen. Most are 5 x 7 inches or smaller and display images in 640 x 480 or smaller sizes. Don’t confuse frame size with screen size. Most have large frames and small screens.

Screen technology. Check out how bright the screen is. The best screen technology is currently Active Matrix thin film transistor (TFT). What is the viewing angle of the screen. Is it backlit? Will your images be clear and bright in a bright room?

Color depth. The number of colors a screen can display is referred to as color depth. Some screens have 24-bit color and others support better 30-bit or higher.

Image formats. All frames support JPEG images but only a few support MPEG. Make sure the frame supports the image formats your camera creates.

Memory card formats. Most frames accept CompactFlash cards, but other frames accept SmartMedia or Memory Stick cards. Be sure the frame accepts the same type of card as your camera or that adapters are available. Even if it accepts the same card, does it accept the specific type you use. For example CompactFlash cards come in type I and II, and there is a small but bewildering number of SmartMedia cards with varying compatibility.

User Options. Can you specify the time each image is on the screen? Can you rotate pictures to display them in portrait or landscape mode? Will the frame do this for you automatically? Can you specify different transitions such as fades between images? Can you set a power off and on time so it doesn’t run 24 hours a day. Is there a sleep function so you can turn it off temporarily? Is there a pan or zoom function? Can you control brightness and contrast? Can you view all of the stored images as thumbnails?

Style. The "look" of these frames vary widely. Be sure you see a photo of what it looks like to confirm that you can live with it. Some have interchangeable frames (bezels) so you can change the look when you want to.

Software upgrades. Can you download revised software from the manufacturer’s Web site to upgrade your frame when improvements are made?

Services. Some of the Internet connected devices let you check such things as the weather forecast, sports scores, news headlines, or lottery numbers. At least one (Ceiva) lets you display photos and other art from the masters. How about a glowing 5 x 7 inch Ansel Adams in your living room?