6. Pictronic PPM-0601 Illuminated Photo Frame

by Barry Gerber

They say it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Well, that may be, but if Pictronic International has its way, your favorite dad or grad might get a chance to fool his or her family and friends. Pictronic's line of photo frames don't display digital images, rather you put a standard photo into a Pictronic frame and turn on an AC powered backlight that illuminates the picture. It's not digital, but the effect is quite nice as we found with our 5x7 metallic colored plastic evaluation model.

You load your image into a Pictronic frame much like any other. First you unscrew four easy to turn large plastic-headed screws. Then you remove the back of the frame, insert your photo and replace the four screws. In the process, you'll notice that the frame has standard glass (the glare isn't too bad) in front and that the backlight is made up of a number of white LEDs that run in a row along the bottom of the frame. They face upward and illuminate the backlight panel much like LED backlights used on LCD screens. The LED backlight panel works very well with a photo in place, providing very even light across the frame.

Look at the photo of the PPM-0601 frame above. Notice that little roundish thingie that's supporting the frame; it works whether the frame is oriented horizontally or vertically. The support was the only real downer for me. Every time I picked up the frame, I forgot that the support wasn't connected to the frame and it fell off and went skittering, often rolling, around my lab. It's a minor issue, but annoying. I would have appreciated an easel stand.

There are some limitations to using the frame. Your photo must not have any watermarking (paper manufacturer's name, dates, etc.) on the back. Watermarking shows right through a backlit photo. You'll have the same problem with older images that have any kind of blotches, tape or glue marks on the back. Pictronic recommends scanning images with any of these problems and printing them on paper without watermarks. Additionally, Pictronic advises that photos should be viewed no more than 10 hours a day to prevent their fading. The power supply cord has a built-in switch to make adhering to this caveat easy. Oh, yes, if you want to reduce the brightness of the backlight, there's no brightness knob. Instead, to reduce brightness, you put as many sheets of blank white paper as necessary behind the photo to achieve the brightness level you want. There's no way to increase brightness, but I found the backlight adequately bright.

At $35 as purchased from Pictronic International the PPM-0601 illuminated photo frame may seem expensive. However, when you consider it has a quality, very low heat LED backlight, the price doesn't seem so steep for a frame that makes favored photos stand out from the un-illuminated crowd. Pictronic makes a large line of illuminated frames in 4x6 and 5x7, distinguished by the kind of plastic or metallic frame on the front of the device.