Bad surprise, I thougt I would have a screen with better quality. The lighting is poor, so the colors are not reliable.
The slot fort CF card is delicate to manipulate: The first time I use it, some pins have been bended. There is no protection to prevent that.
This product is not as I hoped before buying it.
AWESOME, Because of this genius product, I was able to get rid of numerous photo albums and simply transfer the photos digitally to this device, saving TONS of space and making photos MUCH easier to find when I'm looking for them.
Sharing images anywhere, This computerized photobook is just about what I needed as far as image quality and ease of use are concerned.
The storage capacity is excellent as well as the image load speed. However it only works that way when the user took the time to match image size to the photobook format: 800 x 600 pixels or near that size. Otherwise the picture display take a long time and the number of pictures that can be stored is very much reduced....
Damaged unit, Very disatisfied with this product. Cf card holder was damaged with crushed down pins . Unknowingly I tried to insert 2 expensive Lexar Pro. cards with no luck. After re inserting cards back into camera, camera was damaged because cards were damaged trying to insert in D.F. album. Amazon was great with a credit however, Digital Foci REFUSES TO EXCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for damage done to camera and cards. They only respond by e-mail, they are not willing to talk directly via phone. Buyer beware...........
For the Non Technical Wife - Perfect, My wife has been complaining ever since we started using electronic cameras. "We never have copies to show our family or friends".
This product solved the problem. Now, not only are all of our pics on the product, but their quality is exceptional, and it is of a size that she can easily take when travelling. Also is an excellent backup for our picture files.
Doesn't work!, I bought this picture album to take on vacation so I could show pictures to all families as I was taking pictures. When I first got it I tried it out and it worked. One time is all I tried as I saw no other reason to try anymore. I bought it late April as I was leaving for vacation on May 10. It never worked again.
Digital Foci Photo Book PBK-080 8-inch Portable Digital Photo Album, I just bought and started using the FOCI Photo Album, and it is a great product, very easy to use and has excellent photo viewing quality.
The manual, downloaded from the WEB is very complete and easy to find most the answers to any questions you may have. If you need technical help, they have the best technical help of any electronic piece of equipment I have ever bought.
They answer the phone quickly, and the person that answers the phone answers any question you may have with a thorough knowledge of the product.
I sent them an e-mail with some questions at 10pm one evening, and I had an answer to my questions in an e-mail when I downloaded my mail in the morning.
The Photo Album lets you load folders of pictures through a USB connection, and it looks just like an exteral drive on your computer. No Problem, and each folder shows on the Photo Album screen as an album. You can look at thumbnails in the album, look at pictures full screen manually or put on a slide show, with adjustable timing. You can even add music, I have not done that, but I'm sure it will work.
When you get your pictures in the right order you have to number them, because the photo album reads files alphabetically. Also you must use numbers with pad 0's, like 001,002 etc., so that everything plays in order.
Greate product at great price, As a Pro Photographer I find the Foci Photo Book has remarkable true to life colours. I have been using it to show customers their photos.
The book is sturdy and yet not heavy to carry. I would recommend it to a friend.
I would also like to thank Amazon for the trouble they went to on my order. A sure sign of a good company.
good product idea, but terrible screen, bulky, and cheap feel, I was looking for a digital photo album for my 66 year old mother - a "brag book" as others have called it, so she can share pictures of her grand children and trips they take. She's OK with computers but does not enjoy working with them, so ease of use was as much a priority as the picture / screen quality. I was also looking for a screen large enough to easily see and share pictures, yet small enough to easily take along, and enough memory to store hundreds of pictures.
I looked all over the net for a suitable device, but other than mp3 players (that also display photos) with screens smaller than 4 inches, pictures frames with too little memory, and tablet computers and netbooks that were significantly more expensive and had functions she did not need (and would have made it more cumbersome too operate), there seem to be only two devices available:
1. Foci digital photo book
2. Albumteam Album
Amazon had decent reviews for the Foci and very little about the Album, so I went ahead and ordered the Foci.
However, I was not happy with my choice and returned the Foci (Amazon's customer service was great as usual) for for the following reasons:
1. screen was of very low quality. Resolution was mediocre at best, but what mattered most was that the visibility was very poor (dark) when placed in front of you. In fact, visibility was better from all other sides - but who wants to see pictures only from the side or upside-down?
2. cheap feel - plastic was flimsy and fake leather felt very cheap, too.
3. the device is much larger than the screen and quite bulky and heavy to carry around. The cheap leather cover only adds to the size.
I ordered the Albumteam Album instead. Here is how they compare:
1. Design of Album is much more attractive
2. Album has a much higher quality feel compared to Foci. Album features a metal back (different color options) and black glossy hard plastic on the front compared to the cheap gray plastic of the Foci. Only the buttons on the front of the Album could feel more solid.
3. Album is much smaller (half the size?), yet screen is only 1" smaller (7" instead of 8"). Unlike the Foci, the Album would fit in a hand bag. The (real leather) cover is easily removable on the Album. Overall the size of the Album seems to be a nice compromise between large viewing area and portability.
4. Picture quality is better on the Album, but resolution seems to be the same. Overall, I'd say picture quality is OK - just don't expect to see anything like on an iPad.
Great Photo Album, I love this product & have been waiting to even know that it existed. I have archived my photos with regular photo albums for years. This has been expensive and time consuming. I thought there should be an electronic photo album (not just photo frames), but never found one. Now the Digital Foci Photo Book provides just what I've been looking for. It's great that you can expand the storage with a memory card. I also like how it creates an album out of every folder copied. Navigation could be improved upon. It would also be nice if there was another level of navigation available, so that you could first go to a "Year" folder, and then to all of the "albums" within that year. Currently, this is not possible. Maybe some day. Also a better screen would be a nice improvement. The pictures are sharp, but the viewing angle must be directly in front. A better screen would help when viewing with a friend. Overall though, a great product! I can't wait to see an updated version.
2.5 hours of battery life on rechargeable battery - Ideal for passing around while sitting on a living room sofa or at a business presentation 8-inch 800x600 high-resolution digital LCD with LED backlighting - Comes with soft leather-like case that protects the Photo Book Displays each photo album with folder name and thumbnail photo preview - Automatic photo slideshow with adjustable time interval Supports RAW image viewing from DSLRs - Perfect for professional photographers to display photo collections in a elegant portfolio 4 GB internal flash memory - Supports CF, SD/HC, MMC, MS/PRO, xD, USB flash drive - Copy albums directly from cards or USB flash drives
2.5 hours of battery life on rechargeable battery - Ideal for passing around while sitting on a living room sofa or at a business presentation.8-inch 800x600 high-resolution digital LCD with LED backlighting - Comes with soft leather-like case that protects the Photo Book.Displays each photo album with folder name and thumbnail photo preview - Automatic photo slideshow with adjustable time interval.Supports RAW image viewing from DSLRs - Perfect for professional photographers to display photo collections in a elegant portfolio.4 GB internal flash memory - Supports CF, SD/HC, MMC, MS/PRO, xD, USB flash drive - Copy albums directly from cards or USB flash drives. Unique Photo Album Structure Easily organize your photos into different albums and choose a specific album to view. The "Photo Album View" displays each folder as a separate photo album, showing its folder name and a preview image of the first photo in the album. "Photo Thumbnail View" lets you browse through the thumbnails of the photos in a selected photo album. In addition to running a full screen photo slideshow with adjustable time intervals, you also have the option of running the slideshow with an elegant page-turning effect. It is just like you were flipping through an actual photo album. You can also add music to play in the background along with your slideshow. A portable digital photo album with an 8-inch 800x600 color digital LCD screen and 4GB of internal memory, Photo Book is a convenient and innovative way to enjoy and share your photos in addition to the traditional print albums. Featuring a slim design encased in a soft leather-like case for a convenient, elegant photo display, Photo Book offers over 2.5 hours of battery life and an easy and portable way to enjoy and share digital photos in a comfortable setting. With Photo Book, you have easy access to your photos in a portable album that can be brought along to enjoy and share anywhere you go. Photo Book is ideal for passing around while sitting on a living room sofa and family gatherings. The internal battery eliminates the need to deal with messy AC power cables and makes it very easy to handle.
