Review: Sony DPF-D70 7″ Digital Photo Frame

Written on Jun 24, 2008 by Brian and filed under Reviews, Sony

Sony offers a trio of digital picture frames; the DPF-D70 is a 7” “entry-level” frame. Entry-level for Sony at least, for most others it would be top of the line. Sony didn’t exactly pack the D70 with features, but a tremendous display and reasonable on-board memory make it an instant favorite in the 7” size.

Getting Started

Out of the box, getting the Sony frame set up is relatively simple. Once you’re plugged in the frame plays a little demo that covers things like how to properly insert the memory cards. The demo stops once you’ve inserted a memory card or loaded images to the internal memory. The default display is to show images in a single image slideshow, but there are other options and a few configuration changes that can be made.

 
Top down look at the D70

Like most digital frames, the Sony D70 can be oriented either to portrait or landscape. At first I didn’t really care for the kickstand mechanism; I wasn’t confident that it would stay locked into place. The design is pretty good though, you can rotate the frame from portrait to landscape, or vise-versa, without having to move the stand. There’s a small ball joint that the frame rotates around, so it actually works out surprisingly well.  When you rotate the frame to another position, the pictures automatically adjust orientation. If you have the Sony logo light turned on, it automatically turns off in portrait mode.

Back of the Sony DPF-D70

It’s a great looking unit. The D70 features a high gloss black frame (not interchangeable) that really makes the pictures pop. The entire front is flat all the way across, with the actual display panel recessed a bit behind a glossy top layer. There’s a Sony logo underneath the image display that is turned on by default, but can be disabled. But really, if you’re going to spend the extra for a Sony, you might as well display the brand.

Display Modes

The default frame setting is to show your images one at a time in a slideshow. Sony also offers a multiple image mode, which loads your pictures in varying order and configurations. I find this mode to be distracting, depending on where the frame is placed. The clock mode shows you a split screen with the image and the time and date the picture was taken. The calendar view is a little more useful, showing a monthly calendar with today’s date and time.  There’s also a random mode which rotates between the four display patterns.

Within the single image display mode, there are several settings which can be tweaked out of the box. Unless you’ve manually resized your images for the frame, you’ll want to navigate to the screen settings menu, under various settings, and change the display mode to “fit to screen.” This will essentially zoom in on your images to have them fill the entire display. This particular digital frame is formatted differently than most digital cameras, so images must either be cropped manually, or zoomed in on to fill the screen. For some reason Sony went with a unusual 15:9 aspect ratio.

This digital frame only supports still images; there is no video support or speakers for playing MP3 or other audio files.

Memory

The frame supports the popular flash memory options including Memory Stick, CompactFlash, Secure Digital and xD. Sony has also included 256MB of internal memory which they claim will hold 500 pictures. This is only true if you manually re-size your images to fit the D70’s screen. Even without resizing though, you should be able to fit roughly 75 images on the frame’s internal memory, which is plenty for most people. Transferring images to the internal memory is much easier to do via USB cord and computer than the process of going from memory card to the frame. Unless you want to transfer all of the images from a memory card to the internal memory, it’s slow going to do them one at a time.

When inserting a memory card while the digital frame is turned on, the frame will automatically start showing images on the card, rather than the internal memory. If you add more memory cards while the frame is on, it will default to whichever card was inserted first. You can manage which card is displayed in the menu system.

Menu buttons and memory card slots

Menu System

Any digital picture frame in this class comes with an in-depth menu system for managing your photos. Sony’s can be accessed via buttons on the frame or remote control and is generally pretty good, though there are some areas that could use improvement.

Navigating the menus is easiest via remote control. The biggest down side with the remote though is there’s no cradle for it and it’s very small, so losing it or otherwise misplacing the remote seems like a reasonable potential outcome. Even when using the remote, navigation indicators show up on the right side of the frame that approximate the locations of the menu buttons on the back of the frame. The idea is that you can use those buttons without flipping the frame around, but in reality it’s still not that easy to discern which button is which, without looking.

Remote control

The menus are generally straightforward, with the exception of the “various settings” selection which sounds like a hodgepodge of stuff you’d never need, but in actuality, there are very useful options there, like screen brightness and contrast, screen settings, slideshow settings and so on. Perhaps “more settings” would have been more intuitive. “Select device” is another one that could use a better description. This is the menu where you can manually select which memory source to view files from, assuming you have at least one memory card inserted.

Screen Quality

With any digital picture frame, screen quality is generally one of the most important features and the one most skimped on in cheaper models since the display panel is the most expensive part of any digital frame. Sony is well-known for their outstanding display quality and the D70 is no different. The colors are vibrant and the blacks hold true. The viewing angles are also very good. The only real knock is the glossy coating reflects a good deal of light, some people might be turned off by the reflective nature. I think it’s great though, a definite standout in a crowded field. At 7” the frame isn’t huge, but perfectly reasonable for a desk or tabletop location around the home or kitchen.

Sony DPF-D70 in the dark

Notice the reflective nature of the display

Other Features

Aside from showing images and the occasional media file, the Sony D70 also includes a clock and calendar. The clock comes with a couple clock and calendar viewing options but at this price point it would be nice to see a little more in terms of choice for clock faces.

Power

The D70 works plugged in only, there is no battery. The power brick is reasonable though, generally only blocking just one location on a power strip.

Conclusion

The Sony DPF-D70 digital photo frame straddles market segments to a degree due to the higher than average price for a 7” frame, but fewer features than competitors in the $140 area (Kodak offers an 8” model with WiFi for a few dollars more). The D70 offers a superior display though and more on-board memory than most frames this size. And the display is really where this model separates; it’s easily the best in its class. The Sony name also still carries a good deal of power, the brand-loyal won’t go wrong here.

Pros

• Fantastic display
• Good amount of included storage
• Automatic fit to screen function makes it easy to load photos to the frame
• Sleek and sexy design

Cons

• More expensive than other “basic” frames in this size

Bottom Line

If you prefer display quality over budget, there’s no better option for a standard digital picture frame in this size.

4 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice

Have a comment about this article? Leave a comment in the DigitalPictureFrameReview.com forums.