After 18 hours of research and testing, we think the 10-inch is the best digital photo frame for most people who want to display pictures uploaded wirelessly from their smartphones, hard drives, or social media and cloud storage accounts. Its superior display and simple setup lift it above the competition. And since you can send photos to the frame via Nixplay’s cloud services or email, or indirectly through a shared Dropbox folder, if you give one as a gift you can share photos with the recipient even if they happen to be halfway across the world.
Last updated: May 16, 2017 We’ve added a section below to mention that neither of our photo-frame picks can support automatic importing of photos from cloud-based shared folders. The high-resolution IPS display offers pleasing colors and a wide viewing angle, so your images look great from every corner of the room. The panel’s 4:3 aspect ratio means it can display your smartphone photos full screen, without black borders, and you can position it in either portrait or landscape orientation.
Step-by-step instructions on the Nixplay website make connecting the frame to your Wi-Fi network and uploading images quick and foolproof. Those images can come from your phone or computer, as well as from social media and cloud storage accounts such as Instagram or Dropbox. A motion sensor lets you conserve energy by putting the display to sleep after you leave the room. Using a cleverly designed semirigid USB power cable that doubles as a stand, the Seed can sit in either portrait or landscape orientation at a range of angles. You can control the Seed using either the included remote or the company’s free app (iOS and Android). Its 8 GB of internal storage gives you enough room for about 25,000 smartphone images. Although it isn’t the cheapest digital picture frame, the Seed offers a combination of features, user customization, ease of operation, and picture quality that its rivals can’t match.
If you prefer loading your images via SD card or USB stick instead, Nixplay’s will save you a significant bit of cash while still providing all of the other benefits of our top pick, aside from wireless connectivity. You get the same great screen, motion sensor, and remote, along with easy setup and operation.
And Nixplay helpfully includes an 8 GB USB stick to get you going. But since this model lacks a Wi-Fi connection, if you give it as a present, you’ll need to rely on the recipient to load photos onto the frame. The Advance is the highest-rated digital frame on Amazon, with a 4.5-star rating across more than 530 user reviews at the moment, and it comes in a wider range of sizes than we’ve seen from any other frame maker. I’ve covered photo gear at The Wirecutter since 2013, and I’ve worked as a professional photographer and digital-imaging consultant for 15 years. I also ran my own digital-printmaking shop for a nearly a decade, producing exhibition-quality photographs on wide-format inkjet printers. I’m on the faculty of New York City’s International Center of Photography, and I lead photography workshops around the country.
In preparing this guide we brought in eight digital photo frames for side-by-side comparisons and real-world use in my home. How we picked and tested. We brought in eight frames for several days of use in a home environment. We cut through the clutter of the 1,600 digital photo frames listed on Amazon by limiting contenders according to some key criteria. In a poll of more than 200 Wirecutter readers, two-thirds of respondents said they were interested in frames sized between 8 and 11 inches. On top of that, with even budget compact cameras delivering 20-megapixel images, using a low-resolution frame makes no sense, so we looked for screens with a resolution of at least 1024×768 pixels. And because smartphones (and several stand-alone cameras) capture images in a 4:3 aspect ratio, we ignored frames with 16:9 displays, since they force you to crop those photos or to present them with large black borders on two sides.
Using these criteria we had only 10 frames to consider, eight of which we brought in for testing. Some, such as the, were plagued by poor screen quality.
Others, like the very expensive, were frustrating to use. For a closer look at what we dismissed and why, see. Onto each frame, I loaded identical sets of images shot on cameras ranging from smartphones to DSLRs. I compared image quality, functionality, and ease of use while working with the frames for several days in various rooms of my home. After 18 hours of research and testing to figure out which features are essential in a digital photo frame, plus hands-on time with eight contenders in a home environment, we think the is the best choice for most people. Its 10-inch display produces pleasing color and contrast in a 4:3 aspect ratio that’s perfect for smartphone photos.
Setup is quick and foolproof, and built-in Wi-Fi lets you import photos from your social media, email, or cloud accounts. And a clever cord/stand design lets you position the frame in either portrait or landscape orientation.
If you give the Seed as a gift, keep in mind that it can show images sent to a special email account. If you want to send a new photo to your gift recipient, just drop it into an email, and it’ll automatically show up on their frame. Pull Quote Setup is quick and foolproof, and built-in Wi-Fi lets you import photos from your social media, email, or cloud accounts.We tested the 10-inch version of the Seed (7- and 8-inch models are also available) and found that its produced pleasingly accurate results along with a wide viewing angle, ensuring that images looked great from every corner of the room. The screen’s 4:3 aspect ratio is a perfect match for smartphone (and Micro Four Thirds) camera sensors, which means your images can display across the entire screen.
Sensors in DSLRs and many mirrorless cameras have the slightly different 3:2 aspect ratio, so those images will have a black border along two sides. The mismatch is subtle enough, however, that we think some people won’t even notice it. In any case, this display is a better fit than what you’d get on a frame with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Images shot with DSLRs and mirrorless APS-C cameras have a 3:2 aspect ratio, so unless you crop them you’ll get thin black borders (like those shown here) along two sides of the screen.
Like Nixplay’s other cloud-connected frames, the Seed uploads your photos to the company’s servers and then sends them to your frame. This arrangement lets you manage the frame from Nixplay’s well-organized website, but that requires you to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and to the Internet. You can organize your image uploads and create playlists for your frame from your Web browser. Step-by-step instructions on the Nixplay website make connecting the frame to your Wi-Fi network quick and foolproof. Pull Quote Step-by-step instructions on the Nixplay website make connecting the frame to your Wi-Fi network quick and foolproof. In light of that used home-networked devices as unwitting proxies, we asked Nixplay about its security protocols.
Nixplay’s chief of software told us: “We don’t expose ourselves to public access through the user’s router like a lot of off-the-shelf SoC devices which haven’t been locked down. This means the user’s router or PC would need to be compromised first before our frame could start to be attacked. We have our own two-way protocol (via WebSockets) we use that is encrypted and we don’t open up access to our frames’ OS.” The Seed has no ports for inserting a USB stick or an SD card, so you’ll have to add images via your Nixplay account, either from the website or through an app. Once you’ve connected the frame to your Wi-Fi network, you can add images directly to your account from your phone’s photo library via the company’s free app.
You can also use Nixplay’s well-designed website to upload images from your computer as well as from social media and cloud storage accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Flickr, and Dropbox. Linking these accounts is easy: Just click a button to log in and then grant access, and your photos will automatically populate the Nixplay Web page. Nixplay’s cloud service comes with a 10 GB storage limit (a paid upgrade gets you additional storage), but this limit applies only to photos you upload from your computer’s hard drive or your mobile device. Images synced via cloud services like Facebook, Google Photos, or Flickr do not count toward this limit. Once logged in to the Nixplay site, you can upload images into an album (center). You can then drag those images onto a playlist (right) to send them to your photo frame.
The Nixplay Seed includes 8 GB of internal storage, enough for about 25,000 smartphone photos, which means you’re unlikely to run out of room. The Seed will still display already loaded images even if it’s disconnected from the Internet, though you’ll have to connect to the Nixplay website to add new photos or make any changes to your playlists. You can control the Seed’s operation using either the included remote or the phone app. Nixplay lets you organize your photos into albums, which you can then combine into playlists and send to your frame. Send multiple playlists to a frame, and you can choose to display images from a specific playlist or the entire batch of photos.
Another option is to simply play the most recently added photos. And if you own multiple Nixplay frames, you can send separate playlists to each device. If you own multiple Nixplay frames, you can send playlists independently to any frame. You can also display images sent from family and friends. Upon creating your Nixplay account during setup, you receive an @mynixplay.com email address.
Add contacts to your Friends tab, and any image files they email to that address will show up on the Nixplay site (as will folders shared over cloud services like Dropbox), where you can add the photos to a playlist. By default Nixplay prevents delivery of image files from people you haven’t added as contacts. Once images are uploaded to your frame, you can customize the image duration and transition effect for your slideshow. For images not in a 4:3 aspect ratio, you can choose to display them in their entirety along with black borders on two sides or have them cropped to fill the entire frame.
From the Nixplay app (iOS version shown here), you can adjust frame settings such as the playback mode and sleep schedule (left) or use your phone as a remote (right). Using a cleverly designed semirigid USB power cable that doubles as a stand, the Seed can sit in either portrait or landscape orientation to suit your image files, something you can’t do with frames that have built-in stands. A motion sensor lets you conserve energy by putting the display to sleep after you leave the room. In addition, you can set a daily sleep and wake schedule for the display, a useful feature if you have the frame in your bedroom and light from the screen would keep you awake. The Nixplay Seed uses a cleverly designed semirigid power cable as its stand, allowing you to make adjustments to the angle of the frame and to switch between portrait and landscape orientations. Flaws but not dealbreakers. Nixplay frames do not support automatic slideshows from shared folders.
If you have a shared folder on Dropbox, you still need to transfer the files into your playlist manually, using the Nixplay site or app to see them—they won’t automatically appear on your frame. On one hand, that’s one more step to get your photos to a place where the grandparents will actually see them.
On the other, it stops the slideshow from being overwhelmed by 1,000 almost identical photos of the Alaskan cruise a cousin went on last year. Unfortunately, syncing with shared Google Photos folders is nonexistent. In this case you’ll have to manually move the images to a nonshared folder for which you have ownership permissions. Nixplay says it is aware of the incompatibility but points to Google’s lack of API support for shared folders, so we don’t expect a solution anytime soon.
Instead, we recommend using Dropbox for uploading shared-folder photos to your Nixplay frame. Many readers have told us they would like to have the option of setting a shared cloud-based folder to automatically populate their photo frame. Right now the only way to make that work is to have someone email files to the Nixplay address you receive when you create your user account. If you don’t need Wi-Fi. If you can do without the convenience of wirelessly uploading images, Nixplay’s will save you a significant bit of cash and still provide all of the other benefits of our top pick. You get the same great screen, motion sensor, and remote, along with easy setup and operation.
The Advance is the highest-rated photo frame on Amazon as of this writing, with a 4.5-star rating across more than 530 user reviews. We tested the 10-inch model, but the Advance also comes in 8-, 12-, 15-, and 18-inch versions (the last has a 16:9 aspect ratio). The lack of Wi-Fi means you’ll be loading images via SD card slot or USB port. The Advance has no built-in storage like our top and budget picks, but Nixplay helpfully includes an 8 GB USB stick to get you going.
If you’re a Mac owner, note that you should format SD cards in your camera rather than your computer in order for the Advance to read them, and if you use your own USB stick, it should be in the MS-DOS (FAT) format. The Nixplay Advance has ports for an SD card, a USB stick, and headphones. Nixplay includes an 8 GB USB stick, shown here.
Pull Quote If you’re a Mac owner, note that you should format SD cards in your camera rather than your computer in order for the Advance to read them, and if you use your own USB stick, it should be in the MS-DOS (FAT) format.Aside from the lack of Wi-Fi and, of course, the inability to use the Nixplay app to manage your photo playlists, the Advance delivers an experience virtually identical to that of our top pick. And although we haven’t tested every one of the company’s frames, our experience so far shows that Nixplay has put the most effort into a pleasant user experience, with a setup process simple enough that even technophobes shouldn’t have a problem. We think most people should use Nixplay models as a starting point when shopping for a photo frame. (Potentially) free alternatives.
Pull Quote If you have an old tablet stuffed in a drawer, it’s hard to beat free.If you own an iOS or Android tablet that isn’t getting much use, you already have a capable digital photo frame if you’re willing to spend some time sorting through slideshow apps and finding an appropriate stand. We set up a new —one of the least expensive brand-name tablets you can buy—to see how easy it would be to use as a photo frame. Measuring just 7 inches, its screen is smaller than the others we tested, and its 16:9 aspect ratio means that images shot with your phone or a traditional camera won’t fill the screen, at least not without significant cropping. The 16:9 aspect ratio of the Amazon Fire is a major mismatch with most photos. The 16:9 aspect ratio of the Amazon Fire tablet means that none of your photos will fill the frame without significant cropping, instead showing thick black borders on two sides.
The Fire lacks a built-in slideshow function, and Amazon’s app store is much more limited than those of Google and Apple. We tried the app store’s two most popular slideshow apps, and after an hour—much of it spent spent trying unsuccessfully to connect either of them to Amazon’s Prime Photos cloud storage service—we used a Flickr account and were able to create a basic slideshow. You lose features from our top pick such as a motion sensor for turning off the display, one-step transfer of images from your phone, and easy sharing of photos between family and friends.
But if you have an old tablet stuffed in a drawer, it’s hard to beat free. And if you want to use a digital photo frame only occasionally, like for family gatherings around the holidays, the Amazon Fire can be an inexpensive way to pull that off, while having a tablet for portable reading and Web browsing during the rest of the year. The competition. The field of frames with a resolution of at least 1024×768 pixels and a photo-friendly 4:3 aspect ratio is small, and both features and screen quality can vary widely, a fact that made it easy for us to dismiss several models.
We were all set to recommend the as a bare-bones, budget pick, but it’s been plagued with stock-availability issues. If you can track one down, it’s a more affordable alternative to the Nixplay models, but it has some drawbacks. It works only in landscape orientation, and it has a menu system and remote that recall 1990s computing, but the Ever Frames V08 offers decent picture quality at about a third of the price of our top pick. Because it has no Wi-Fi capability, you must load images via the frame’s SD slot or USB port (but only from one or the other at a time).
The Ever Frames V08 has inputs for an SD card, headphones, and a USB stick, as well as a Mini-USB port for cameras. Like all frames with a one-piece stand design, the V08 can sit only in landscape orientation.
The V08’s screen is smaller than that of our top pick, and because this panel uses older TFT technology, it lacks the vibrant color and rich contrast of the Nixplay frames—but it’s still good enough for most people. Setup and operation are straightforward but slow, due to an antiquated menu interface that requires extra steps like hitting the OK button to move between main menus and submenus. The V08 can display non-4:3 images with black borders or scaled to fill. You can set the image duration for a slideshow from three seconds to an hour, but unlike our main picks this frame has no motion sensor to automatically put it to sleep (though you can set a timed sleep and wake schedule). The L-shaped rear of the frame housing the input ports doubles as the stand, which means the V08 can sit only in landscape orientation. The Ever Frames V08’s remote is a throwback to an earlier era—but it works. The is a recently announced high-end digital photo frame currently available for preorder.
The ability to lift it off the base and use it like a tablet seems handy, as does its method of combining videos and images into automatic collages. But its $500 price tag and 16:9 aspect ratio put it out of the running for what we’re looking for in this guide. The is a marginally more affordable high-end frame; it will be available for $300 when it eventually ships. We’re interested in seeing how it will let owners curate “channels” of content from Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, and privately shared images—but its awkward shape and its inability to work in portrait orientation are enough for us to say that it probably won’t be worth the significant price premium. The was disappointing.
It has a shape and design nearly identical to that of our budget pick, but in our tests its screen quality was noticeably inferior, with flat washed-out colors and a narrow viewing angle. More surprising is that, unlike our budget pick, it doesn’t even come with a remote: You’re stuck navigating the on-screen setup menus by blindly pressing buttons located on the back of the screen. Extremely frustrating. The comes in a 15-inch size, includes an 8 GB SD card, and uses the same menu-interface software as the Ever Frames V08. The display let us down, however. The one in our unit shipped with a dead pixel near the center, and for reasons we couldn’t determine, some of the images from our memory stick exhibited strange distortions (the same USB stick worked fine in every other frame we tested). Even assuming we got a defective unit, the very limited viewing angle of the Neo’s TFT display was a dealbreaker.
With the frame tilted just a few degrees in the vertical direction, severe bronzing made seeing the image nearly impossible. With this frame up on the mantle, a small child looking up at it would see nothing useful. Though now discontinued, we did consider two frames from Electric Objects.
Electric Objects targeted the and its follow-up, the, at the art connoisseur rather than the photo hobbyist. The huge, 21-by-13-inch Full HD–resolution screens were meant to be wall-mounted and work only in portrait orientation. For $300 at the time we first wrote this guide (a hardwood finish would set you back an additional $100), this luxury frame can, in addition to showing your own work, display a curated selection of art from museums like the National Gallery of Art for a $10-per-month subscription. Although this frame offered an interesting way to bring art to your home, it’s far too niche and expensive for most folks. We had high hopes for the, with its tantalizing promise of culling your iPhone’s camera roll and automatically selecting images to display, ignoring those that are blurry or low-resolution, have red-eye, or contain nudity. Surrounded by an elegant anodized aluminum frame, the 2048×1536-pixel display is stunning—in our tests it easily had the clearest, sharpest picture of any frame we tried. Our images had the clarity and pop of slide film on a lightbox.
We were disappointed by a lack of functionality, however. While writing the initial version of this guide, we were surprised to find that the Aura Frame didn’t even have a slideshow option. Shortly after we published, that feature was added, so kudos to the company for incorporating feedback. To change images manually, you have to use the companion iPhone app (which of course means your phone needs to be with you) or stand within 2 feet of the frame and wave your hand in the air.
Not only is the latter a tedious way to find a particular image, it also looks ridiculous. Aura touts the frame’s ability, through use of its motion sensor, to show you a new photo each time you enter the room, a claim that is misleading at best.
Yes, the Aura shows a new photo each time it wakes up, but even if the room is unoccupied, the frame won’t go to sleep unless the room light is dim. In my home office with three large windows, the Aura Frame went to sleep only in the evenings. In practice, the smart selection feature was more trouble than it was worth. I spent 20 minutes waiting for the app to analyze images in a camera-roll folder of 365 images—far more time than I would have taken to select photos manually. And if you choose to display a square or portrait-orientation image with the frame positioned in landscape orientation, for example, you have no fit-to-frame option. Instead the image displays full frame but cropped. Black borders aren’t always ideal, but they are a better solution than digitally chopping someone’s head off.
And every other frame we tested offered us the choice of how to handle orientation mismatches. Again, the Aura Frame produced a better-looking image next to all the other frames we saw, but with a price tag more than double the cost of our top pick, it currently has too many usability shortcomings to recommend. Having said that, the company appears to be responsive to usability concerns and has the ability to address them via app and firmware updates. We’ll keep an eye out for future improvements and adjust our recommendations as necessary. The is similar to our Wi-Fi–enabled top pick but retains USB and SD ports, plays video files, and comes with a traditional stand (which you can use in both portrait and landscape orientation).
Its screen is a bit less bright than the Seed’s, however, and it comes in just two (versus three) sizes, the 8-inch model being the only version with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The is the company’s flagship model, with only minor differences from our top pick.
A metal (versus plastic) frame offers a classier look, and the Iris employs an ambient sensor to match screen brightness to the room lighting. It also uses a noise sensor—rather than a motion sensor—to put the display to sleep. But at the time of this writing, the 8-inch model cost about $30 more than our 10-inch top pick.
We just don’t see the added features as worth paying the extra cash or settling for a smaller screen. The frame has a 10-inch touch-sensitive display and offers twice as much internal storage (16 GB) as our top pick. It supports common video file formats and has a built-in rechargeable battery.
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Unfortunately battery life is rated at only four hours, meaning you’ll need to have it plugged in for everything but the occasional manual browsing of images. Our chief complaint, though, particularly for a model touting its iPhone and Android compatibility, is that the screen’s 16:10 aspect ratio is a mismatch for any smartphone or traditional-camera photos. Uncropped smartphone images sent to the frame are enlarged to fit, meaning you’ll lose some image area on the sides, a problem that our top pick avoids by using a 4:3-aspect-ratio screen. And unlike our top pick, which offers direct support for many cloud services such as Facebook, Google Photos, and Flickr, the PhotoSpring frame seems to work only with iCloud, and only through your iOS device’s previously established iCloud setup.
What to look forward to. Aluratek has plans to release its own wireless option, the. This model promises a higher-quality screen than the company’s current models offer, plus built-in storage and support for social media apps and cloud storage accounts. The new frame is scheduled for release in mid-November at a list price of $150. We’ll keep an eye out to see if it can manage those functions as skillfully as our current pick does. Ever Frames has posted specs for an upcoming 8-inch frame with an LED display, internal storage, and built-in Wi-Fi.
Music and video files are supported, as well. As of this writing the company has not released pricing or availability beyond “coming soon.” We’ll update this guide when we know more. I bought one based on your comment here Mike, but want to caution, pixstar requires FULL READ AND WRITE access to EVERYTHING in your dropbox folder. You can then point it at a specific folder, but you’ve still already given them everything. Unacceptable if you keep anything else in Dropbox not intended for the picture frame. Lovely frame, but I have to return it for this reason.
Only workaround I can think of is to share a folder to another dummy Dropbox account, and give pixstar full access to it. Havent tried it tho. Just returned the Nixplay Seed (actually two of them). Their claimed integration with Google Photos and such is very misleading. You can manually pull from Google Photos using their website. You cannot have it do that automatically. So every time that you add a photo you have to manually go to their website to add it.
People have been asking for that functionality for years (literally). They keep talking about prioritizing that functionality but it is still not there. My guess is that they want people using their website and paying for their cloud storage. Very disappointed. I purchased this frame because of its Google Photos integration; it was a gift for my family and I was looking forward to just adding photos to a shared album, so that my family could see photos as soon as I added them. Turns out that Nixplay cannot support shared albums due to Google API limitations: Wirecutter team: this is a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
The other methods to get photos to seamlessly show up on someone else’s frame seem, at best, clunky and unintuitive. This really should be mentioned in the review.
I wouldn’t have purchased this at all if I had known it was this difficult. Grandparents and less tech-savvy folks aren’t going to be willing to go through all these steps to get new photos to show up on their frame. I’ll be returning this tomorrow. @jasonhare:disqus @crizo22:disqus Thanks for reporting this. We’ve now updated the flaws but not dealbreakers section to include the following notes: Unfortunately, syncing with shared Google Photos folders is nonexistent.
In this case you’ll have to manually move the images to a nonshared folder for which you have ownership permissions. Nixplay says it is aware of the incompatibility but points to Google’s lack of API support for shared folders, so we don’t expect a solution anytime soon. Instead, we recommend using Dropbox for uploading shared-folder photos to your Nixplay frame. Many readers have told us they would like to have the option of setting a shared cloud-based folder to automatically populate their photo frame. Right now the only way to make that work is to have someone email files to the Nixplay address you receive when you create your user account. Sorry for the difficulty.
We’ve just updated the review to include information about this limitation. Here is what we’ve noted: Unfortunately, syncing with shared Google Photos folders is nonexistent.
In this case you’ll have to manually move the images to a nonshared folder for which you have ownership permissions. Nixplay says it is aware of the incompatibility but points to Google’s lack of API support for shared folders, so we don’t expect a solution anytime soon. Instead, we recommend using Dropbox for uploading shared-folder photos to your Nixplay frame.
Many readers have told us they would like to have the option of setting a shared cloud-based folder to automatically populate their photo frame. Right now the only way to make that work is to have someone email files to the Nixplay address you receive when you create your user account. Thanks for reporting this.
We’ve now made a note about this limitation in the flaws but not deal-breakers section of the guide. Here is what we’ve said: Unfortunately, syncing with shared Google Photos folders is nonexistent. In this case you’ll have to manually move the images to a nonshared folder for which you have ownership permissions. Nixplay says it is aware of the incompatibility but points to Google’s lack of API support for shared folders, so we don’t expect a solution anytime soon. Instead, we recommend using Dropbox for uploading shared-folder photos to your Nixplay frame.
Many readers have told us they would like to have the option of setting a shared cloud-based folder to automatically populate their photo frame. Right now the only way to make that work is to have someone email files to the Nixplay address you receive when you create your user account. This is all great, but what if you have thousands (or tens of thousands) if pictures? A one-at-a-time viewer won’t cut it, you’ll never be able to ‘photo flip’ through all of them.
Images will be buried forever just as if they were in an old school album. For years I bought the 1st gen Apple TV for one reason: the floating picture screensaver.
It’s the only way to display multiple images in a kinetic and eye-catching way, and if you have thousands of images, the only way to see most of them (vs one picture at a time). It was limited by the number of images it could ‘mine’ for viewing (a few hundred) but at least was high resolution. However, NOW there is a much better option: Google chromecast plus a FREE android app called Floating Image, by a fellow named Mark somewhere in Denmark. It mines thousands of images (I haven’t seen a limit yet) in hi res in a floating image way and looks fantastic on a large screen TV. If it’s viewed on a large tablet, like the Galaxy View, the thumbnail images floating across can be tapped and they’ll zoom to full screen. A second tap and it goes back to the floating image.
Thus far, this is the best way I’ve seen to display a library of thousands of digital images. Don’t forget also that Samsung will be coming out with the Frame TV this spring, so it will blend in with wall art.
I bought the Pixstar 15″ and the the Nixplay Seed 10″ misunderstanding claims for both that they could dynamically pull from Dropbox. The Pixstar can. But both are unacceptable because in order to import or sync with Dropbox, both require FULL READ AND WRITE PERMISSSIONS TO EVERYTHING in your Dropbox account. Try out, then go over to Dropbox security and you’ll see you’ve just given up everything.
Obviously unacceptable if you keep anything in Dropbox you dont want to share. If anyone knows of a frame that DOES dynamically pull from a specifically shared Dropbox folder, please reply? Seems to me it’s worth pointing out that most of the WiFi-enabled options here, including the top pick, are totally dependent on the existence of an online account managed by the manufacturer. If the manufacturer goes out of business, or decides to pull the plug on the service, you literally can’t put new photos on most of the network-connected frames.
The Nixplay Edge seems to support use (via SD or USB) without an account, but based on user reviews I’ve looked at, it requires some fiddling to get that to work, and the Pix-Star (not reviewed here, and seems to be discontinued) supports loading photos directly off a computer on your home LAN. As far as I can tell, that’s it for networked digital frames that don’t turn into overpriced paperweights if their manufacturers fold.
Download this software and start editing your pictures. A wide collection of frames, borders and other effects which can vividly improve your photos. Preview results in real time. Quite easy enough for new users while having some extended features for design masters. Adding painted, film frames, torn, ripped, deckled, feathered and darkroom styled edges to any grayscale or color image.
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Provides complete management of every aspect of the design work 2. Corel PaintShop Photo Pro – Touch up your images with a professional look. Download this software and turn your pictures into bright, lively images. Support for various input and output formats. All classic photo editing tools plus Smart Photo Fix, Straighten Tool, Color Balance, Local Tone Mapping, Adjust Contrast/Brightness and Makeover Tool. Support for more RAW format images.
Advanced features like the smart carver, color vibrancy and on text image editing. Ability to create professional looking photo books, amazing slideshows and sharing your work via email is quite easy 3.
FotoSketcher – an easy and fast way to make your pictures beautiful. Download this software to bring out the best in your pictures. Easy to learn and use. You can get the outputs within a short time. Dozens of drawing styles to apply, which are easily customizable by using sliders to configure color, stroke intensity, contrast, and other parameters. The preview option lets you check your image before you commit any edits to that image.
Supports skins to customize the program’s interface. Work in batches with several photos at the same time 4. Photo Frame Genius – a simple and easy to use software. Use Picasa to easily turn your dull looking pictures into lively ones. A rich palette of features available for your use.
Searching photos by names. Side-by-side editing. Improved sorting based on facial recognition, tags, file importing and tracking features and collections. An exquisite collage creator that has 5 different styles of collages. Grouping and sorting feature that makes images in your library easier to search 8.
Photo Frames Master – simple yet efficient photo framing software. The 5 minute veterinary consult pdf download. Download this software to start beautifying your images. Easy to learn and easy to use. Includes RAW converter, batch editor, images combiner, animated GIF creator etc.
Good resizing and cropping tools. Supports batch editing of images. Adjust the contrast, brightness and sharpness levels in a easy way. Hundreds of frames to choose from.
Standard filters like standard: Cellophane, Newsprint, Crystalize, Embossing or Blur or some uncommon ones such as Reflection and Region. Without the complexity of premium software and the vast know-how needed to operate them these software will easily turn your pictures into beautiful ones with some amazing effects added to them.
You don't have to spend a mint to get great photo-editing software With the abundance of photo-editing software on the market, you shouldn't have to see a picture of a red-eyed kid at a birthday party ever again. In fact, you probably already own basic photo-editing software: Most digital cameras come with their own software, and when you buy a new computer, you'll likely find that a photo editor comes standard as part of the package, like Apple Photos or Microsoft Photos. These freebies can hold their own in terms of quick image editing - cropping, brightening, banishing red-eye. But to get creative, you'll need software that can go beyond basic touch-ups. Types Of Photo-Editing Software Adobe reigns supreme among paid programs. Graphic designers, pro photographers and the most serious amateurs will be most interested in Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes access to Adobe's most advanced photo-editing programs, Photoshop and Lightroom, but it's overkill for nearly everyone else.
Instead, Adobe and other companies offer slightly less sophisticated - and significantly less expensive - software that will nicely fill the bill, for $70 or less. Many people don't realize that excellent photo-editing software, comparable to Photoshop in many ways, can be downloaded or used online for free. GIMP and Pixlr are two outstanding examples. But these aren't the best choices for everyone; they come with a steep learning curve and not much support. Finding The Best Photo-Editing Software To find our picks for the best free and paid photo-editing software, we turned first to expert sources, such as PCMag.com, Tom's Guide, TechRadar.com and elsewhere. We also looked for user input, turning to sources such as Amazon.com and B & H Photo.
The results were our recommendations for the best paid and free photo-editing solutions for most users. Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 is the all-around gold medalist If you are not a professional photographer, or the most serious of photographic enthusiasts, feedback indicates that among paid programs, (Est. $80) is the top choice. 'Photoshop Elements is like the 'amateur' version of Photoshop,' says Rod Lawton at TechRadar.com. 'It's a lot more novice-friendly, but you do miss out on a lot of Photoshop's more advanced features.' Elements caters to people who want to get creative with their photos - without shelling out a huge chunk of money to buy, and time to learn, Photoshop.
The current version has some impressive new features that make it even easier to use:. Touch screen-friendly interface works well with Windows 10.
Smart Tags automatically sort your photos into groups based on what Elements 'sees' in them (pets, cars, landscapes, etc.), making it effortless to stay organized. New Guided Edits walk you through tricky Photoshop maneuvers. For example, Speed Pan lets you blur the background behind a moving subject (a Little Leaguer running to first base, for example). Adjust Facial Features tool lets you literally 'turn frowns upside down,' as Adobe puts it, actually curving the corners of people's mouths into convincing smiles.
You can also tweak forehead height, chin length, jawbone shape and more. That flip-the-frown feature works well in tests. PCMag.com's Michael Muchmore gives his selfie a slight smile, and Tom' s Guide's Theano Nikitas accomplishes the same with a serious-faced fashion model. Still, 'it's probably best to use these tools lightly, unless you want your friend looking like a stranger,' Muchmore cautions. Elements comes loaded with fun and handy tools. For example, Frame Creator makes it dead-simple to design your own holiday cards.
Photomerge Group Shot lets you combine the best facial expressions from a series of group shots. Scene Cleaner lets you erase distracting photo-bombers. Drawbacks are few. Elements 15 can be slow, say both expert testers and several owners at Amazon.com.
It gobbles a good-size hunk of disk space, too. Elements' closest competitor, (Est. $40), costs less and is 'relatively easy to use,' Nikitas says. But PaintShop Pro isn't as full-featured and capable, and it's Windows-only. Muchmore prefers Elements, naming it his Editors' Choice.
Another contender, (Est. $50), intrigues experts. It's more advanced than Elements - more like a less-expensive answer to Photoshop itself. 'I've been tweaking pics and reviewing image editing apps for two decades, and this is the first one I can remember that I might actually want to use,' says The Register's Adam Banks, after a thorough test. 'A fast, efficient and genuine Photoshop alternative,' says Matthew Richards at TechRadar.com. It's fast, slick and packed with pro features - in fact, testers say you'll rarely find any Photoshop task it can't do.
However, it has a steep learning curve. 'It lacks in beginner-friendliness,' Richards says. It's available for both Mac and Windows.
Adobe Creative Cloud: Pro-level (and pricey) photo-editing software No discussion of photo-editing software would be complete without at least touching on the grand daddy of then all, Adobe Photoshop. However, these days, you can't buy Photoshop - you have to rent it as part of Adobe's suite of cloud-based photo tools. $10 per month) gives you access to cloud-based full versions of both Lightroom (Adobe's pro-level digital darkroom program that lets you catalog and process images into professional-quality photos) and Photoshop (for more complex photo manipulation). The good news is, you always have access to the most updated version. The bad news is, you never stop paying for it - Adobe doesn't sell the latest versions of Photoshop or Lightroom outright anymore. For pro photographers, graphic designers and the most serious hobbyists, Creative Cloud is a slam-dunk: 'the absolute best in photo correction and manipulation,' PCMag's Muchmore says.
For most people, though, it's almost certainly overkill. Unless you need to turn out truly professional-quality photos for profit - or just because you can - experts unanimously recommend instead opting for (Est. $80) as the less expensive, easier-to-use choice. GIMP is the best free photo-editing program 'Can you get Photoshop for free?' Asks Audley Jarvis, to kick off What Digital Camera?'
S test of the free photo editors out there. Yes, you can - kind of. In test after test, (Free download) (GNU Image Manipulation Program) proves that it can, surprisingly, do most of what Photoshop does.It's free of charge, too, so designers, photographers or students on a strict budget - basically, anyone 'who can't or won't shell out hundreds of dollars to Adobe,' says Enid Burns at DigitalTrends.com - can get the pro-level editing tools they need. It even looks reassuringly like Photoshop, Jarvis says. You'll find your toolbox (with crop, lasso, healing tool, clone tool, etc.), histogram, etc., right where you expect them to be. You'll be able to do sophisticated edits - correct barrel distortion, create multiple layers, apply filters and more - just like in Photoshop. So, if GIMP is free, why does anyone buy Photoshop?
Experts say Photoshop can still do some things GIMP can't - and it does them faster, with the reliability and tech support of a polished, paid, professional program. GIMP is 'not without its crashes and glitches – that's the too-many-cooks open source development philosophy in action – and it lacks the polish of its commercial rivals,' says Alex Cox at TechRadar.com. 'Some of the filters, in particular, seem as if they haven't been touched since it was first released 20 years ago.' GIMP is a free download. If you'd rather not take up space on your computer (or if your processor is wimpy), (free) is a free photo editor that's entirely Web-based - no download necessary. You don't even need to register.
Just go to the Pixlr website, and start editing. Choose from Pixlr Editor ('a watered-down version of Photoshop,' TheHighTechHobbyist.com's reviewer calls it) or Pixlr Express, which 'is really for playing with your photos,' Burns says. 'You can put a stain on a picture to make it look like you rested a coffee mug on the photo, for example.' Pixlr also offers iOS and Android apps, as well as a downloadable desktop version for Mac or PC.
What the best photo-editing software has. Auto-correct. Nearly all photo-editing software has this basic functionality, which fixes obvious flaws; it doesn't always get it right, but then you can either undo or make further adjustments.
Basic adjustments. Must-have tools include red-eye removal; adjusting brightness, color, contrast and saturation; sharpening and softening; cropping and straightening; and spot healing to remove spots and blemishes from faces, or anywhere else. Filters and special effects. These are fun tools for converting images to monotone, pencil drawings, watercolor, neon and all kinds of other crazy and cool effects. Image manipulation. Photo merging, removing backgrounds, cloning out distracting objects, noise reduction, and enhancements are helpful to have for more advanced users. Know before you go Check the system requirements.
If your system doesn't have enough free disk space (some programs use up a lot) or if you are on an operating system not supported by a newer software package, you won't be able to run it on your computer. What kind of training do you need? Novices may want a program that will guide you through the simplest tasks, such as red-eye removal or cropping images. Also consider the types of support (tutorials, guides, forums, FAQ lists), and their quality, that will be available to your once you get past the basics and want to move on to more advanced editing. How about a free trial? If you are considering a paid photo-editing program, keep in mind that many companies are good about offering a 30-day free trial before purchase. Before buying, give it a shot and see how it goes.
If you hate it, move on to something else with nothing lost. If you love it, start shopping for the best deal. If you are considering a free program, there's no cost at all to try it out, with nothing lost, except perhaps a little (or maybe a lot) of time if things don't work out. Balance features with ease of use. Photoshop does literally everything, but if you are not heavily involved in photography or graphic design, experts suggest starting with something more basic. It will take time to learn how to use all of the features, and it's easier if you are transitioning from an Elements-like program first.
Which file formats are supported? You want to be able to import and export a wide range of file formats, including BMP, TIF, GIF, PICT, EPS, PSD and JPEG. If you have a higher-end digital camera and want to shoot in RAW format (where no processing is done by the camera itself), you'll need software that can process RAW files (not all do). Do you want to use layers and masks? If you plan to do extensive photo editing, these tools are essential. Layering allows you the flexibility to try different adjustments without touching the original image. Masks allow you to work on only one portion of an image.
Consider file storage and management. Most photo-editing software includes some basic image management features, so you can organize files and find photos later. Most enthusiast and professional photographers prefer separate databases for this. That's an entirely different category of software and worth checking out if you anticipate taking more than a few hundred photos.
Look for web and social media integration. Free games download for mobile nokia x2 01 mobile9. The newest generation of photo editors allows you to save images in web format and post directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs and other photo-sharing and social sites. Templates, plug-ins and actions make fast work of simple tasks.
Photo-editing software for beginners often includes fun and creative templates for scrapbook pages, calendars, photo books, greeting cards and magazine covers, just to name a few. Plug-ins and actions are functions that are downloaded from third-party sources and can speed up adding specific effects to your images, usually with just one click.
Photoshop is the world's go-to photo editor – so much so that the word has become verbified, like 'Hoover' or 'Google'. This might give the impression that Adobe's photo editor is the undisputed champion, but that all depends on what you use it for – for your purposes it may be a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. There are a wide range of capable alternatives to Photoshop, some of them paid-for and some free (go to for the free apps), but this list of the best photo editors wouldn't be complete without the ubiquitous Adobe application as well. Platform: Windows/Mac. / (per month) Adobe Lightroom allows you to keep all your photography in one place, and organise, edit and share it from anywhere. Many creatives opt to use Lightroom as it can tackle the complex image management jobs Photoshop is not designed for, making light work of day-to-day enhancements and raw files.
With Lightroom you can store images on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android device and even transfer photos automatically from your phone into Lightroom as you shoot them. Syncing takes care of itself, so when you make an edit or flag a favourite in one place, it’s automatically updated everywhere else. Affinity has quickly become the go-to Photoshop alternative. Platform: Mac, Windows, iPad. /£ We will never waver in our love for Serif's Affinity Photo, especially as it's available for Windows PCs and iPad as well as macOS, making it the subscription-free Photoshop alternative that everyone can enjoy. The latest version boasts plenty of amazing features, including full HDR merge support, 360-degree image editing, recordable macros and batch processing, plus a tone mapping workspace that enables you to turn any image – whether it’s a standard JPG or an HDR photo – into a dramatic scene, bringing out details you never realised were there.
Read our story 02. Shout out to everyone who used Paint Shop Pro on Windows 3.1. Platform: PC. / PaintShop Pro has been the budget Photoshop alternative of choice on PC for over 20 years, and it's still holding its own. The new 2018 version promises to be easiest, faster and more creative than ever.
It features ready-made project templates, a built-in screenshot function with a smart capture mode that lets you grab part of the screen, a gradient fill option and improved support for graphics tablets and styluses. On top of the standard version, you can pay a little extra for PaintShop Pro 2018 Ultimate, which adds professional-grade raw editing, automatic photo corrections and screen recordings to the mix.
Acorn includes non-destructive filters. Platform: Mac. / Image editing software Acorn debuted back in 2007 and has provided hobbyists and artists on a budget with a great, affordable piece of photo editing software.
Features include layer styles, non-destructive filters, curves and levels, blending modes and much more. Acorn 6 features non-destructive filters, which includes a great interface to chain filters together to create unique effects.
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You can even save and modify your filters after you've closed and re-opened your Acorn image. Somewhere inbetween Photoshop and Touch, Elements is a powerful standalone app. Platform: Linux/Windows/Mac. / This is the basic alternative to Photoshop CC, as reflected in its great Quick and Guided Edit modes, but don't think that means it lacks power under the hood. Also, unlike Photoshop CC, Elements doesn't require a subscription.
It's now on the 2018 version, with better organisational tools, intelligent editing tools such as the ability to open closed eyes, options to print your images and features to make it easier to share images via social media. DxO is limited in its scope but what it does, it does very well. Platform: Windows/Mac.
/ for Essential version. / for Elite version Things get a bit specific with PhotLab, but what it does, it does very well. Its results are spectacular, but it's a specialised and sometimes complex tool to use.
It's arguably the best raw converter of all, but that's just about all it does. DxO PhotoLab automatically compensates for the different degrees of distortion, chromatic aberration, edge softness and vignetting common to practically all digital camera lenses. It's also a raw converter, and DxO has applied just as much scientific rigour to this process as its lens corrections. You can browse the images on your computer, folder by folder, then select an image and choose from the default conversion/correction setting or a range of presets The results are excellent.
However, it would never be your one and only image-editing tool. Camera+ is adored by iPad users and has subsequently arrived on iPhone - hooray!. Platform: iOS. / for iPhone. / for iPad The Camera app that comes on the iPhone by default is not brilliant: yes, you can use it to take some decent shots, but it doesn't offer you much creative control.
This is where Camera+ excels. The app has two parts: a camera and a photo editor, and it truly excels at the latter, with a huge range of advanced features. Camera+ doesn't just limit you to editing new pics – you can quickly import your existing photos into the Lightbox where you can breathe new life into them. Workflow is often much quicker using Mac tool Pixelmator.
Platform: Mac. / Pixelmator uses Mac OS X libraries to create fast, powerful image editing tools, which allows the software to integrate seamlessly with the likes of iPhoto and Aperture, as well as iCloud. There are also built-in export tools for Facebook and Flickr. Colour correction tools such as Hue/Saturation, Shadows/Highlights and Contrast are all present and correct, and Pixelmator supports filters and comes with a collection of 150 to play with. You can also open and save images in many of the popular formats, including PSD, TIFF, PDF and PNG. When saving or opening Photoshop documents, layers are preserved allowing you to collaborate effectively with colleagues using Adobe's software. Handy Photo is all about the interface and photo editor tools.
Platform: iOS/Android. / for iOS. / for Android The selling point of photo editor Handy Photo is its interface, which uses the corners of the screen to cater for rotating menu options.
It's all designed to keep the central area of the screen clear, allowing you to use swipe gestures to tone your effects up or down. It's a powerful photo editor; the UI isn't for everyone, but this is an amazing price for the effects you get. The 'Move Me' tool enables you to clip out objects and move, resize or flip them. Next page: Free photo editors.
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