Transferring photos to a digital frame: Part 2

Consumer Reports News: May 16, 2009 06:08 AM

Photo: niallkennedy/Flickr

As we mentioned in part one of this blog post, a digital picture frame is a great way to show off your photos without needing to print them all. However, it isn't always clear how to get your photos into the frame.

We listed several ways to do this in our first post. Here are three additional ways:

Use a USB card reader: Some computers and digital picture frames don't have memory card slots. In this case, consider buying a USB card reader—something like this from Lexar, SanDisk, or Kensington. SD card readers sell for around $15 to $20; you'll need a reader that works with the card format your camera uses, although some readers include several slots for different card types. Insert a blank card into the reader, then plug the reader into the computer and transfer pictures from your computer to the card. Remove the card from the card reader and insert it into the frame's card slot. If your frame doesn't have a slot, plug the reader (with card in it) into the frame's USB slot.

Use a USB flash drive: You can also transfer images from a computer to a USB flash drive, then insert the drive into a frame with internal memory and copy them from the flash drive to the frame's drive.

Go wireless: More digital picture frames have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology for transferring photos without connecting any cables. In some cases, you can download images from a photo-sharing site, like Snapfish or Flickr. This can be tricky, since you generally have to set various settings and choose security features.

Just as a reminder, be sure to back up your photos on to a computer before reformatting your memory card. —Terry Sullivan

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