I purchased the 8" Smartparts digital frame from Radio Shack. It had the
most memory for the best price. I have loaded some photos on it and the
kids love it.
Here are the responses I have received on digital frames:
Look at the Pan Digital ones. They have an incredible amount of memory
in the frame itself.
What a good idea! It would be a fun way to show pics of students and
teachers reading their favorite books, too. I may try this!
Cathy
I just bought a Philips 7FF2CME 7" frame and it is beautiful. It has collage
modes where you can display several pictures at once and then they meld into
others. It works with most memory cards. I bought it from an EBAY dealer
$39.95 with free shipping.
Doug Valentine
Librarian
McKillop Elementary
3509 Liberty Way
Melissa, Texas 75454
I have purchased and used several models and brands. The very best I have
found is Kodak. Its resolution is great and it is easy to use. One other
suggestion that works well for us is:
Last year I purchased a flat screen tv. I looked for the cheapest one that
would take an SD card. We take the pictures of prom, ball games,
activities, etc. and just put the card into the tv and have it run as a
slide show all day. The students love it and are always gathered around.
The staff is bringing photos to us to put on the tv. This was one
successful brainstorm!
I bought a Pandigital that was a 4 x 6 size (screen size actually a bit
smaller like 3 x 5 I was not very happy with it. On black Tuesday I was
looking for a "Name brand" larger one for my Mom and stumbled on a
"Smartparts" 10.4' viewable screen. It was on sale for $99, so I bought it.
I was setting it up with pictures and I loved it so much that I bought
myself one. You can insert the memory card and save copies of your pictures
onto the internal memory. Its a bit tedious in uploading if you have a lot
on the card since it does one at a time and always goes back to picture 1
but the pictures look great. I believe because of the size of the screen,
so I suggest getting the largest you can afford. I would love one for my
library, but will wait for the prices to drop a bit more.
Carmen Belanger LMS
Dr. Mudd Elementary School
I've seen this idea suggested before. I have been using my library
computer's screensavers for this type of thing. No expense involved.
Amazon.com has some information on what to look for in digital photo frames.
I can only remember you should make sure it's a wide-angle and can be viewed
from nearly every angle. I would also check to see how many photos can be
stored. Can you put a digital card in it with pictures on that to increase
the number? I decided against something that needed to be plugged in
constantly.
What kind of camera do you have? The cable you use to connect to the
computer may be an easy way to transfer files. What kind of memory card does
it use? Many frames have slots for common memory cards. We actually bought
two different brands for the grandparents a couple of years ago and both
were relatively easy to set up. At the time, we just dumped several photos
of the grandkids onto a flash drive and plugged that in to the frame to copy
the files onto the built in memory. Also I've helped teachers set these up
recently and found that the electronics guys were scamming unsuspecting
"grandma" types with the purchase of extra memory cards when the frame
already has built in memory that holds a fair number of photos already. In
addition to comparing the physical frame size, you'll want to compare the
memory available. If possible see if you can compare screenshots of the
setup menus. Most are easy to learn.
I'm intrigued by your idea of using it in the library....if you have even
basic photo editing software (Picassa or Photoshop Elements....even MS
Publisher would work) you could really create a kind of kiosk with
announcements or simple instructions.....hmmm............
I have purchased four digital frames to set against my windows of the
office. They will have different themes to them of books I've read
based on the genre lists I've created. I also use them to display
titles of my previous booktalks as well as the most checked out books in
the library : )
Before you go out to purchase a digital frame, consider using your
computers' screensavers to do the same thing. If you have XP just set the
screen saver to use pictures from a folder which can be on your network
drive so more than one computer can access it. I have several different ones
going on my computers. One shows pictures I took with authors at our
library conference (on this one I used PhotoShop to type names and quotes
from the authors on the pictures, and included their popular titles),
another has pictures of my library aides, a couple have the teachers' and
students' READ poster pictures, and yet another has book ads created by my
aides using power point slides saved as jpegs. These have been fun to create
and have not cost us a cent. Sandra Carswell, Librarian S.C. Lee Junior High
School 1205 Courtney Lane Copperas Cove, TX 76522 254-542-7877 library
website:
http://ccisd.esc11.net/99120618141227170/site/default.aspsandracarswell@hotm
ail.com sandraca@ccisd.com "So many books, so little time. Read fast!"
unknown
The advantage of a digital frame is that it serves as an extra screen. We
use it to rotate pictures of new books, slides of library news and candid
photos. It faces out toward the students (who would not be able to see the
computer screen) and gives them something to do while they wait in line to
check out.
Using your computer as a digital frame only works if you are "allowed" to
have screen savers. Our Tech dept won't allow the installation of screen
savers and insists that all the computers "look alike" across the district.
I have a digital frame and the kids love it. I find it mesmerizes the ADD
kids (they also love Lava Lamps).
Please remember that many digital frames were sold with all sorts of
malware loaded onto them, so that when you plugged your computer or
portable drive into them, the malware was transferred to your computer.
That story was out last year, so perhaps things have changed now, but
I'd still suggest that anyone who gets a new digital frame make sure
that your antivirus software is up-to-date before connecting it.
When I noticed the digital frame emails on the listserve I wanted to send
out a caution so here it is. We have a digital frame in our library too and
they are great! You all have such innovative uses! But beware! The
following links are about viruses on some of these products. Evidently it
is still a problem, see the Dec 2008 link.
Dec 2008
http://hothardware.com/News/Samsung-digital-frame-ships-with-virus/
Feb 2008
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/02/18/Digital_frame_virus_traced_to_Chi
na/UPI-94091203386730/
My frames use a card...I haven't had any problems with viruses. I
haven't messed with the ones you can directly upload from a computer,
but the photo card works well. The only drawback, and something you
should take into consideration is if the frames run on batteries or need
to be plugged in. I have had to work with cords and surge protectors
and hide them because I purchased plug-in only.
The kids are LOVING them!
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