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Plain old picture frames are so last century. After all, they don’t do much more than show off one shot. Snore. Digital photo frames, on the other hand, let you create slideshows with cool transitions to display all of your vacation pics. Some of these handy devices integrate video, audio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a host of other features, too. The best part? LCD technology is finally becoming affordable enough for these frames to be had at reasonable prices. We’ve reviewed a bunch of digital photo frames and have found that you can land a great bargain on an excellent one; but you need to know what to look for. So here are our rules for picking the perfect digital picture frame.
Rule 1: Consider the User
Some of the picture frames we’ve reviewed, such as the Sony VAIO Wi-Fi Photo Frame VGF-CP1 ($299 list), have fancy features like full Web browsers, streaming Internet radio, and text news feeds. With the exception of the $125 (street) Smartparts 8″ WiFi Digital Picture Frame (SPX8WF), Wi-Fi photo frames often cost quite a bit more than those that display only local content. Those features also add complicated menu options that may be confusing to novice users. And people on your gift list may just want to see their photos and little else, so it may be best to stay away if you don’t think you or the person receiving the frame will take advantage of the wireless features.
On the other hand, more sophisticated users will enjoy Web-enabled features, such as the ability to e-mail photos or see up-to-date weather forecasts. Features like dedicated e-mail addresses make basic Wi-Fi frames, such as the Smartparts model, a good fit for anyone with a wireless network.
Rule 2: Don’t Buy Based on Brand Name Alone
We had high hopes for HP’s first digital photo frame, the HP df750 7-inch Digital Picture Frame ($129.99 direct), for example, so we were surprised to find that the company built it around a dismal LCD riddled with scaling problems that produced jagged, grainy images. This frame also has a hard-to-maneuver menu system that makes it difficult to recommend.
On the flip side, the lesser-known Pandigital used an excellent display in its 8-inch PanTouch Digital Photo Frame ($169.99 list) touch-enabled frame that delivered quite good images. Our tests showed images with pleasing color accuracy, and the device offers picture adjustments for brightness, contrast, tint, and color for fine-tuning almost any photo to perfection. The bottom line: Always read reviews before you buy!
Rule 3: Never Settle for Resolution Below 640 by 480 Pixels—Regardless of Price
Rock-bottom prices on some frames, such as the $79.99 (list) Cenomax F7024B 7-inch Digital Photo Frame, may render them mighty attractive, but beware subpar images. This frame’s resolution of 480 by 234 pixels is too low to display details, so most of its images look boxy and pixelated—no bargain! Consider only frames with a resolution of 640-by-480 or higher.
Rule 4: Select Your Aspect Ratio
Photo frames typically come in one of two aspect ratios, 4:3 or 15:9. By default, most point-and-shoot digital cameras capture photos in 4:3. A frame with an aspect ratio of 4:3 will be the best fit for your photos, as 15:9 frames will have to crop a piece of the top and bottom of your photos to fit the image on the LCD screen. On the other hand, a 15:9 aspect ratio gives your images a pleasing widescreen feel, which might be a better bet for some. One of our high-rated frames, the Sony DPF-V900 9-inch Digital Photo Frame, displays in 15:9. That, together with its slick design and intuitive software, makes it look and feel like a mini HDTV.
Ashlee Simpson and her new hubby, Pete Wentz, are having a tough time of it trying to sell photos of new baby Bronx Mowgli to celebrity magazines. Simpson’s overbearing father/manager, Joe, is demanding too much money, Perezhilton.com reports. A magazine insider says that covers featuring the pair don’t sell too well. And besides that, doesn’t Joe know we’re in the throes of a recession?
These graphs show the number of Flickr members who have uploaded at least one photo or video with a particular camera on a given day over the last year.
The graphs are “normalized”, which is a fancy way of saying that they automatically correct for the fact that more people join Flickr each day: the graph moving up or down indicates a change in the camera’s popularity relative to all other cameras used by Flickr members.
The graphs are only accurate to the extent that we can automatically detect the camera used to take the photo or shoot the video (about 2/3rds of the time). That is not usually possible with cameraphones, therefore they are under-represented.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A former Sunday school teacher was arrested on charges of distributing harmful material to a minor after the parents of a 14-year-old boy found a topless photo of her on his cell phone. Victoria Ann Chacon, 27, also a former middle school teacher, allegedly met the boy at their church, where she was teaching Sunday school.
The boy’s parents called police March 27 after finding racy letters in which Chacon professed her love. The boy initially refused to give a statement about the relationship, the arrest warrant says.
Several months later, the parents found a cell phone with a topless photo of Chacon. The phone was owned by Chacon and the two had been calling one another, according to court documents.
The woman was arrested Tuesday. Jail records had no attorney listed for her.
Chacon resigned from Somerset Junior High School on March 14. The boy did not attend that school. Officials of the Somerset Independent School District said they found no evidence that she had any inappropriate relationships with students.
Quick everyone, hide your cellphones. Naomi Campbell is coming to town.
Campbell and her posse of famous pals and photographers will descend upon Miami to present a collection of photographs of the supermodel.
Organizers from Art Photo Expo Miami say it is rare that top photographers such as Arthur Elgort, Albert Watson and Steven Meisel exhibit their work together. The show — running from Dec. 2-7 — will feature more than 50 photographs and several illustrations of Campbell, which will be for sale. The show coincides with the international art fair Art Basel Miami, but is not connected to it. The retrospective is part of a larger exhibit called In Fashion Photo, which will display an additional 250 photographs.
“I love my job,” Campbell said in an interview from Moscow, where she was doing a photo shoot. “I have had a great, great career. I am not doing this retrospective because I am over.”
Does she have a favorite picture? Not really. “It’s my life basically,” she said. “For me, each picture tells a different moment in my career and just for me its a timeline really.”
Organizer Francois Trabelsi said he picked Campbell because “she’s the biggest top model of the world.”
“All big photographers of the world make some photographs or did something with her,” he said.
Elgort said the first time he met Campbell was in the mid-1980s. He has photographed her many times, including with designer Azzedine Alaia, and one of those photos is included in the show.
“She was very outward, very fun. A nice, crazy girl,” he said. “She had an amazing runway presence.”
Although Elgort applauds Campbell’s longevity, he said she isn’t the easiest person to work with.
“She surely made history,” he said. “She had her mind on making history and every once in a while if it wasn’t history it was almost, oh dear … she lost interest.”
Watson, who has photographed everyone from David Bowie to Mick Jagger, said that having these photographers in a group show featuring a model as the subject is an original idea.
“I think that its fairly unique,” Watson said. “Maybe just because it’s Naomi.”
In a photo by Watson, Campbell is seen in profile wearing a dress cut low with her shoulders exposed. It was taken for Italian Vogue. “I think what’s nice of this photo is that it is more a photograph of Naomi … of course, its more photographic,” Watson said.
Watson said he has known Campbell since she was 15 and said she has always treated him with respect. “She was always on her best behavior,” he said. “Naomi is volatile.”
Campbell’s bad behavior is legendary. She was sentenced to community service and a fine after she pleaded guilty to kicking, spitting and swearing at the airline officers aboard a plane at Heathrow Airport in April. Last year, she was sentenced to a week of community service in New York City after admitting “reckless assault” for throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper. In 2000, she pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant.
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