Digital Camera News: Pandigital and Digital Spectrum 10.4 Inch Photo Frames, New Dust-Aid Sensor Cleaning Solution

Pandigital Announces 10.4 Inch Digital Frame and Expanded Retail Presence

Pandigital has announced the addition of of a 10.4 inch digital photo frame to their existing product line. According to the press release, Pandigital was the US sales leader of digital photo frames in the fourth quarter with about 500,000 units sold. Because of this success, they will be expanding their retail presence by adding 1,000 storefronts (to their existing 5,000) in the first quarter of 2007.

The 10.4 inch frame (PAN10-2) joins an existing line up that consists of 5.6", 7", 8", and 9.2" frames. It includes a 6-in-1 card reader (SD, XD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Memory Stick Duo, Compact Flash, MMC) to allow users to transfer pictures from their camera's memory card directly to 256MB of internal memory. The frame also has miniUSB and standard USB ports to allow image transfer using the camera's cable or by connecting it to a computer.

The screen has a resolution of 1024x760 with a brightness of 350cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 500:1. It comes with two interchangeable frames (black wood and cherry wood ) to match your decor. It also comes with a remote control.

In addition to still images, the frame can play MPEG 1, MPEG 4 & AVI video clips as well as mp3 audio clips. There are built-in speakers and a headphone jack to provide other output options.

This frame will be available in February at an MSRP of $249.

Vista-Ready Wireless Digital Frame from Digital Spectrum Solutions

Next week at CES, DSI will be showing off their new 10.4 inch "Vista ready" wireless enabled digital photo frame. The frame (MF8104 Premium) will be available in February. If you want to see if before then, head to Las Vegas and visit booth S1 20344 in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The MF8104 can utilize the Media Connect features of Windows Vista to better integrate the frame with the rest of your personal media. Since it also has a wireless radio built-in, it can access popular photo sharing sites (Flickr, Windows Live Spaces, Webshot, etc) to find updates or you can set up your own RSS feeds of images.

If you don't want to deal with the wireless, there is a multiple format card reader and USB cables to allow transfer of images to and from the frame.

Additional features:

• Plays MP3, WMA and Streaming Audio files
• Plays MPEG and WMV Video files
• Automatic slideshow
• Audio slideshow
• Built-in stereo speakers
• USB to PC
• USB to thumb drive, camera, etc.
• Onscreen menu system; customize to your style
• Remote control for convenient use
• Removable desktop stand
• Changeable standard 8x10 frames to suite your décor

For more information, see www.dsicentral.com.

Dust-Aid Digital SLR Sensor Cleaning System Announced

Since digital SLRs allow their lenses to be changed, photographers have to periodically clean their sensor to remove dust that is introduced into the guts of the camera. The new Dust-Aid system uses a very low tack adhesive to remove dust. The Dust-Aid adhesive-based Digital SLR sensor cleaner will be released to retail soon.

Current cleaning systems can use liquid solvents or compressed air. The inventor of Dust-Aid, Ross Wordhouse, wasn't able to travel with any of the current cleaning solutions because of current airline security guidelines. So, he came up with Dust-Aid.

Dust-Aid consists of a plastic applicator to which a cleaning "pad" is attached. The pad looks like a piece of foam that attaches to the applicator/wand. The part that touches the sensor has a very low-tack adhesive on it that is just barely sticky enough to remove dust, and has been thoroughly tested to prove that it does not leave any adhesive residue behind.

You will be able to buy Dust-Aid at a retail price of $39.95. For more information (and a nice animation that shows how the system works), wee www.dust-aid.com.