# Digital picture frame help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463 "2007-11-22T22:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/1 "2007-11-22T22:44:09Z")
I’m browsing through Black Friday ads to suggest a digital picture frame for my mommy to buy for me. I’m trying to find one that’s not widescreen, so that my photos display in the correct aspect ratio, but I’m failing. So my questions: Will having a widescreen picture frame bother me? If ABSOLUTELY necessary, I can crop/stretch photos to fit the aspect ratio, but I’d much rather not (not out of not wanting to do work, but out of wanting to preserve what my photo looked like.) Has anyone seen what I’m looking for in any of the Black Friday ads, and if so, where? ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/2 "2007-11-23T00:40:16Z")
In my limited experience with digital photo frames, you can tell the frame to show the picture in its native format or stretch it, much as you would tell your HDTV how to display a program. So, pictures that are “landscape” will fill the entire widescreen area while “letter” pictures will have black bars on either side. Unless, you want it to stretch them, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/3 "2007-11-24T18:59:31Z")
**Chaoticbear** , if you’re still reading this thread, do not compromise. Get exactly what you want: the [Westinghouse DPF-0802](http://www.westinghousedigital.com/details.aspx?itemnum=107). It’s 800x600 resolution is pretty close to the proprotions of my digital cameras. And it has a kick ass LCD panel! See post #17 in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=437212) for more details about why I love this frame. I should also add that it’s pretty durable, having bought it in the US and shipped it halfway across the world one way and now halfway across the world the other way and it still works! [rant] I have no idea why anyone would want a widescreen DPF, yet they’re the most readily stocked in stores. I hate either having my images stretched unnaturally or seeing big black bars on the sides of the image or having to modify all my image files to fit the stupid screen. Just make the damned thing match the proportions of digital cameras. Dammit!!![/rant] ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/4 "2007-11-25T01:09:26Z")
Well, I ended up buying one of the 50 dollar ones that got returned today. I haven’t set it up yet, but I suppose, if I just can’t stand it, I could spend the extra hundred bucks on a correctly proportioned one. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/5 "2007-11-25T05:45:18Z")
After you set it up, please share your opinion (and model number) with us. There are so many out there it’s impossible to try them all. I’ve not had an “out of box experience” with many other frames. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/6 "2007-11-25T05:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=Caractacus Pott] Just make the damned thing match the proportions of digital cameras. Dammit!!![/rant] [/QUOTE] [Not all digital cameras have the same aspect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography#A_comparison_of_frame_aspect_ratios) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/7 "2007-11-25T06:08:52Z")
The Brookstone ones claim to resize your photo, but without seeing the specs I couldn’t tell you how they purport to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/8 "2007-11-25T09:46:24Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] [Not all digital cameras have the same aspect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography#A_comparison_of_frame_aspect_ratios) [/QUOTE] While that’s true, the same article says most digital cameras take 4:3 aspect ratio images. Other than specialized panorama cameras, most of the other cameras’ aspect ratios are close to 4:3. Soooo, 4:3 ratio is closer to the image size from more cameras than 16:9 is. Yet, what aspect ratio is offered most often? 16:9. Illogical. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/9 "2007-11-25T16:52:12Z")
[QUOTE=Caractacus Pott] While that’s true, the same article says most digital cameras take 4:3 aspect ratio images. Other than specialized panorama cameras, most of the other cameras’ aspect ratios are close to 4:3. Soooo, 4:3 ratio is closer to the image size from more cameras than 16:9 is. Yet, what aspect ratio is offered most often? 16:9. Illogical. [/QUOTE] My guess is that the average consumer won’t care if Billy’s face is stretched a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/10 "2007-11-25T18:27:33Z")
[QUOTE=chaoticbear] My guess is that the average consumer won’t care if Billy’s face is stretched a bit. [/QUOTE] You’re obviously right about that. I’d rather not have Billy’s face stretched like a funhouse mirror, but that’s just me. As I mentioned in the other thread, I’m a little picky about how I display my images. I’m not a professional photographer, so I need all the help I can get. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/11 "2007-11-25T18:40:58Z")
My guess is that the picture frame makers are using surplus LCD panels intended for portable DVD players, thus the 16:9 aspect. > [@Caractacus Pott](#): > > Other than specialized panorama cameras, most of the other cameras’ aspect ratios are close to 4:3. Well, I guess that depends on whether you consider 3:2 (like my DSLR) as close to 4:3. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-picture-frame-help/427463/12 "2007-11-25T19:21:02Z")
My dSLR shares the same aspect ratio as yours, **squeegee**. In practice, my 4:3 frame shows my 3:2 images with tiny black bars on either side. They’re so small that I don’t notice them unless I’m really looking closely at the display. Putting the same images on a 16:9 screen without stretching to fit, I can’t help but notice the large bars. But, since this is GQ, using one of those math qualities (transitive?) I forgot about decades ago to show how the frame would scale the image to fit the screen, multiplying our cameras’ aspect ratio by 1.5, we get 4.5:3, so, yes, they’re pretty close to a 4:3 ratio. It’s a lot closer than 16:9 would be–multiply the cameras’ aspect ratio by 4.5 to get 13.5:9.