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Digital photo frames

by Alexandra Middleton | 19 Dec 2013

Digital photo frames make it so much easier to view all of photos you’ve snapped, from family snaps to holiday tales.

In the age of digital photography it’s easy to snap hundreds of great shots only to upload them to your computer and never view them again. While digital cameras allow us to shoot freely without worrying about the cost of wasted film, they do require you to make time to sort through the images and then print and display them. All of which comes at an added cost.

Digital photo frames are simple to set up, requiring a power source and a USB or memory card to be plugged into the side. They resemble a normal photo frame except that they have the capability to display a slideshow of digital images, often with accompanying music.

What this means is that rather than enjoying one happy memory per frame, visitors to your home can enjoy an entire album of photos from a recent holiday or even the progression of your youngest grandchild.

Knowing what to buy

There are a number of digital photo frames on the market that cost from around $40 upwards, depending on design and digital features. A top of the line frame will have a large, high-resolution LCD screen, retailing around the $150 mark. The frame would have built in memory, as well as capability for a USB or memory card to be plugged in.

In addition to the photo slideshow a frame of this quality could come with a calendar and clock feature, multi language display, a wall mount or stand and the ability to load your own soundtrack.

While these features make for a great viewing experience, if you are looking for a cheaper frame the most important features to look for are a high quality LCD screen with a minimum 800x600 pixel resolution and the capability to plug either a USB or memory card in, depending on your preference.

Loading images to your digital frame

From a computer

If your images are stored on your computer, create a folder with a selection of images you want displayed on the frame.

To ensure the frame can read the image files, when saving them to a single folder select a JPG file format.

When sorting through your images make sure that they are all facing the right way up.

To move the photos from your computer to the frame, save the folder to a USB drive. Depending on the level of built in storage your frame has you can either leave the USB plugged into the frame or save the image files from the USB into the internal memory of the frame. If you plan to upload photos using this method you need to make sure the frame you purchase has USB capability.

Some frames have wireless capability, which means you can transfer photos from your computer to the frame without plugging it in. This however means that you can only load as many images as the frame’s internal memory has space for. To fit more in, consider saving the images on your computer at a lower quality and file size.

From a memory card

Uploading photos from a memory card is probably the easiest way to use a digital frame. Simply plug the memory card into the frame and again either leave it plugged in or transfer images from the card to the frame’s internal memory. One downside of leaving the memory card plugged in is that you probably won’t have culled excess images from the card and you also wont be able to use it in your camera while it’s plugged into the frame. It is also much more difficult to create slideshows collated from a range of life events, as generally what is saved on your camera’s memory card are recent photos.

Customising your frame

Once your photos are uploaded, customise the way they display by selecting the amount of time each image stays on the screen. Some frames also allow you to select effects such as having images fade in and out or swipe from the top down, rather than a standard side-to-side slideshow.