Recommend Digital Photo frames

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nick16

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Hi all,

I am looking for a digital photo frame for my desk at work. I understand the photos out of my Nikon DX camera are (close to) 6000x4000 so 3:2 ratio.
Not being an expert in this area, will most frames comfortably take this picture size? I don't want to end up with the middle 60% of an image being shown and likewise having a black border around the edges. - I know this will happen with portrait unless I rotate the frame. - luckily I don't shoot many portraits.

As it will be at work I have no use for WIFI connectivity / cloud etc, so a standard SD card slot would be fine. (I do use Flickr now though!)
Looking for around 10-12 inch frame.
Best screen quality? I'm Guessing the best will be 1080x720?

I have been looking at the Nixplay Advance on amazon if it is of any help.

Regards,
 
nick16 said:
I have been looking at the Nixplay Advance on amazon if it is of any help.
Click to expand...
The 10-inch Nixplay is 1280x800 pixels, 16:10 aspect ratio. So depending on how it works with images that don't fit exactly, it will do one of the following:
  1. resize your images to 1200x800, so they will fit vertically and you'll get a small black edge (3% of the picture width) on each side;
  2. resize your images to 1280x853, so they will fit horizontally and you'll lose a small strip (3% of the picture height) top and bottom;
  3. resize your images to 1280x800, so they will fit perfectly but will be distorted.
Personally I would find 1 objectionable on aesthetic grounds; 2 undesirable because I like seascapes where I often put the horizon right near the bottom of the frame and this would risk cropping it out; and 3 obviously unacceptable. YMMV.

16:10 is a strange aspect ratio since there's pretty much nothing that naturally fits that shape. I think they've chosen that so that it can deal with 3:2 (which is 15:10) and 16:9 without having to do too much butchery to either. But you need to read the small print to find out exactly how it works.
 
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Also, read the small print regarding resolutions etc. The 12-inch Nixplay Advance is more expensive than the 10-inch, but it has a lower resolution (800x800 - ugh!) and it a different shape. Tread carefully.
 
This is exactly the difficulty I have having. I want to display some nice photos but I am well aware of the issues I could have.

I really don't want to be resizing them myself as it is a pain and just not worth it. I will have to have a google and see if there are any that actually display in 3:2 ratio.
All three of your 'options' are not ideal, so I will look elseware.

800x800 is dire. I am a little surprised there isn't more development in this area of the market.
 
nick16 said:
800x800 is dire. I am a little surprised there isn't more development in this area of the market.
Click to expand...
Actually that was a typo. It's 800x600.

I can't easily find digital picture frames in the 3:2 format. You can get 4:3, 16:10, and 16:9, but not 3:2. I think that's because 3:2 isn't an aspect ratio that's used by any devices other than digital cameras. Nobody's going to bother making custom display panels just for digital picture frames: the manufacturers are going to use off-the-shelf components and that leads them to 4:3, 16:9 etc but not 3:2.

In terms of quality: most desktop computer monitors display about 100 pixels per inch, and that's fine if you're looking at it from 2-3 feet away. So around 1000 to 1200 pixels would be reasonable for a display in the sort of size you want. I know some phones have crazy high resolutions, but the cost of making (say) a 10-inch panel at 300 ppi would be prohibitive.
 
StewartR said:
Actually that was a typo. It's 800x600.

I can't easily find digital picture frames in the 3:2 format. You can get 4:3, 16:10, and 16:9, but not 3:2. I think that's because 3:2 isn't an aspect ratio that's used by any devices other than digital cameras. Nobody's going to bother making custom display panels just for digital picture frames: the manufacturers are going to use off-the-shelf components and that leads them to 4:3, 16:9 etc but not 3:2.

In terms of quality: most desktop computer monitors display about 100 pixels per inch, and that's fine if you're looking at it from 2-3 feet away. So around 1000 to 1200 pixels would be reasonable for a display in the sort of size you want. I know some phones have crazy high resolutions, but the cost of making (say) a 10-inch panel at 300 ppi would be prohibitive.
Click to expand...

Looks like it might be a non starter then unless I want to put up with a slight black border or I resize each photo.
I agree with the Pixels, it doesn't need to be a massive amount, but 800x600 is taking the mickey a bit!

juggler said:
I've got a PIxStar unit. It works really well but has an extremely blue colour cast.
Click to expand...

You aren't selling it to me :LOL: At least I know to avoid that one then.
 
I have a Jessops 8" hi res frame that was only ever used to see if it worked
Same res as above, takes a sd card and 4:3 ratio, you can have it for price of postage if its any use
 
Thanks for the offer but the specs aren't quite right for me. I would ideally lke 10 inch screen, possibly 12.
The maximum slide show speed of 10s is too fast - Its going to be used in an office and I would like a slower speed.
I am also hopeful of getting more borderless look, or a much thinner border than the jessops can offer.
 
nick16 said:
Thanks for the offer but the specs aren't quite right for me. I would ideally lke 10 inch screen, possibly 12.
The maximum slide show speed of 10s is too fast - Its going to be used in an office and I would like a slower speed.
I am also hopeful of getting more borderless look, or a much thinner border than the jessops can offer.
Click to expand...

No problem, its destined for the charity shop anyway, hope you find something suitable
 
I bought some cheapo thing from God knows where and it's now stopped working entirely.

My main issue with it (when it did work) was that it couldn't handle large files. So everything had to be made smaller to go on it.

As I was doing that, I cropped everything to the correct size too. But it certainly wasn't as easy as it it should have been to use.

As it's for work, are there no old monitors/laptops kicking about that you could plug something in to?
 
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Unfortunately not. I have dual wide 720p monitors at the moment and they take up a fair chunk of my desk. I was hoping a digital frame would sit under / to the side of them.

It would appear the frames cant do what I want without me having to resize etc.
 
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