Olin 8in media frame with built-in printer

In recent years, I’ve reviewed several digital photo frames, and more often than not, while the frames have been quite stylish, the quality of the digital displays and their functionality have been a bit hit and miss.

So, when I received the Olin DPF-808 — an 8in digital photo frame with a built-in photo printer — to road-test, my hopes weren’t particularly high. However, I’m happy to report that when I cranked it up, I was pleasantly surprised.

The chocolate-coloured frame was understatedly stylish and the quality of the display was impressive. But the big bonus was the built-in printer, which lets you print high-quality 6x4in glossy borderless prints in seconds, straight from the images on display.

In my tests, printing a range of exposures, colours and saturations, the print quality was very good, producing clear photos with no colour deviations from the original image files.

The frame comes with a power adaptor, a USB cable for downloading images into the onboard memory, a remote control and an ink/paper cartridge (sufficient for 36 prints).

The frame accepts JPEG files from a range of popular memory cards (Secure Digital, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo and xD), which can be plugged directly into the rear of the unit and there’s a USB slot for displaying images straight from a USB thumb drive. There’s also 128M of onboard memory for permanent display.

As well as viewing photos as single shots or a slideshow complete with music and tasteful transitions, you can view videos (JPEG AVI movies) and play audio files.

The frame and printer couldn’t be easier to operate, and because no computer is required for their operation, the combo is the perfect digital photography solution for non-techie types — a perfect example of an ideal target market is my elderly parents, who have a digital camera, but no computer and very modest photo printing needs.

The unit’s recommended retail price of $399 might seem hefty, but when you consider that you are getting two devices and look at what they’d cost you to buy separately, it’s quite reasonable really.

Olin DFP-808
RRP: $399
(ink/paper cartridges sold separately for $19.95)

Available at Paxtons camera stores.