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
35 Responses to “Review: Sony DPF-D70 7″ Digital Photo Frame”
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I have this frame and it locks up constantly. It may lock up after an hour or after a day but never makes it longer than about a day and half before freezing.
I’ve used our test unit for at least a month and haven’t seen it run into trouble once. We’ve also been working with their 9″ model over the same time and no problems. It’s probably worth taking back and exchanging.
Update:
I started using a different memory card (CF instead of SD, different brand too) and the problem has gone away. I also changed the folder name of one of the folders to be shorter.
Just got it. SD card. Beautiful frame and easy to use. No sense in buying a no-name with a poor screen. Also have a Philips one w/an excellent screen. Great for my grandparents.
Love this frame!! I’ve had it for about 2 months, and the picture quality is GREAT! Very easy to use (hardly even had to read the instructions provided). Love the convenience of the remote control, and the different features it has. It was a little pricier than what I wanted to spend, but the enjoyment I (and my friends) have received from it has been well worth the cost.
Have just purchased DPF-D70, great display, but won’t auto rotate the odd portrait image from my Canon Compactflash memory card. Have tried card in another D70, in another local store but still doesn’t rotate. Do only certain cameras/cards work?
The auto rotate works fine with the Canon SD-line shots that I’ve tested with. Do they all not work for you or is it just some photos? I can only assume that for some reason it’s not able to pick up the orientation data from the image file.
The landscape images all show O.K. but any images that have been taken in portrait appear as landscape. Also, when the frame is rotated the landscape images turn with it O.K. but the portrait images still appear on their side, again needing manually rotating 90 degrees to view them correctly.
same problem – auto-rotate doesn’t work
i bought this frame for my mother because it had the best image quality i could find.
the only drawbacks are, that it really lacks features. you cannot organize the photos in any way. the photos are either shown in a random order or are sorted after the date. there is no way to sort them after topics. even if you put them into separate folders, they are displayed one after the other.
what a pity, because the image quality is really superb.
Same problem for me. Portrait shots do not automatically rotate!
Hello,
Few user reviews in amazon mention that if the pictures (JPEGs) are edited by Photoshop, they no longer work in this frame. Is it true ? Can someone please confirm this ? I almost decided on this one before i read those 1-star reviews and stopped short of buying.
Thanks
Shan
I have had problems with a couple of images I had edited in Photoshop that would not display. Not sure why (it was only four) and I re-edited them (made a mnor change) and re-saved and they then displayed OK.
So it’s fixable but seems fairly random as other PS edited images displayed OK first time
Thank you Andy. That was a helpful reply.
I had thousands of scanned family photos I wanted to put on the Sony DPF-D100 frame. It would not recognize a one of them. After much experimentation, I downloaded Photoshop CS4 (had CS2), and tried taking my original scan PSDs and did a SAVE for Devices or Web, and then they worked. The SONY help desk was of NO help–their comment on edited photos was “it may not work”. Very helpful indeed! Especially when it seems to be a simple as Photoshop version used. Other than than, it is a beautiful frame.
Hi, I just loaded up many photos I had edited with Photoshop. Just save them as a JPEG file.
It is not the photoshop causing your problems. These frames support only JPEG file format. Anything else (PSD, camera RAW etc.) will not work. When scanning pictures try saving as JPEG (.jpg). Also when editing in Photoshop “save as” and make sure you have selected .jpg (often default setting is to set as .psd as it is PS own format). Hope this helps.
I have the same problem. When I use my Photoshop edited (and of course saved as JPG), they seem to lock up the frame. I load them into any other program and do a save as, and they work fine. I think it has something to do with Photoshops extended Tags.
I thought my pictures are suppose to rotate automatically…what’s wrong
Got this frame for my parents at xmas. Plugged my Mac into it and draged/drop photos into the frame but it just displayed the Data cannot be opened sign. All the photos are .jpeg. Any ideas?
I had the same problem as some of the other posts in that the auto orientation wasn’t working. I searched the internet, and it is “metadata” inside each picture file that has the orientation information. I had an old olympus c 460 zoom camera, and non of the pictures from it auto rotated. So i loaded some pictures that were taken from a Canon 350d slr onto my sd card, and the auto orientation kicked in right away. So if you are still having problems it might be the camera is too old to have this function in it. Hope this helps.
I love the display and have had none of the locking up or orientation problems described above with files exported from iphoto on my Mac. HOWEVER this device claims to have 230 MB of memory, with only 83 MB used, but I cannot add another picture! I’d like to use that additional 150 MB of “available” memory…
Yeah, these things have version numbers, so an exchange might be in order. I have a version 1.12 at the moment.
I have a Mac with OSX 10.4, but instead of using iPhoto, I recompressed all the photos with something called “DropFix”. I set DropFix to make image files that were 480 pixels (the frame’s height) tall and proportional.
I put 601 photos on the picture frame (it claims to hold only 500) and its still only 25% full.
The reason that the frame filled up for you so quickly is that it keeps the quality of the photo you put on it (to a point) unless you tell it not to. The reason for this is that the frame also has an “EXPORT” function in case you want to print it out later.
Just got this frame as a present and I’ve uploaded some pictures but I want to delete those because it is taking too much space . However I’m having problem deleting those. I have a Mac and the pictures on the digital frame aren’t showing in the computer and I can’t find a way to delete those pictures…. Any ideas??!!
I have been trying to get my D70 to display clock / calendar at same time as an image – described in the review as “split screen”. This layout is also shown on the retail box but I can’t for the life of me find it in the menus and settings! Any help? Thanks.
Hi everyone !
)
My name is Alex and I buy this digital photo frame for my mom and I think is broken.
The screen it’s all blue and in the top left page it say : Erase F/W? ”
non of the buttons or the remote works…
can you please advise? what to do?
Thanks in advance
Have a great day !!!