Review: Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-in-one Price: $299

Kodak's Brownie camera, introduced early last century, helped to put photography into the hands of the masses. A hundred years later, the imaging company is hoping to transform the market once again.

Considering its unique standing in the history of photography, Kodak has been slow to enter the inkjet printer market. The Kodak EasyShare 5300 all-in-one printer is its first inkjet and a belated acknowledgement from the company that photographic development is indeed moving out of the lab.

The EasyShare 5300 is not the cheapest printer in a market littered with sub $100 machines. But because low cost printers are often subsidised by exorbitantly priced replacement ink, buyers are now being urged by the likes of Choice magazine to seriously consider the full life-time costs of a printer.

The first thing you notice with the EasyShare 5300 is the ink pricing information stuck on the lid of the machine where it can't possibly be overlooked. Black ink costs $14.99 and colour costs $24.99, bringing a refreshing level of transparency to a market littered with costly replacements that you only encounter once you run out of ink.

Kodak's 5300 uses a two cartridge ink system - one colour and one black and white, a bonus for those tired of having to dash out for individual cartridges of magenta and cyan, but a loss for those who prefer to replace colours as they run out.

The jury is still out on which ink cartridge model works out as most cost effective and comparative price-per-page data for the full range of printers on the market is hard to come by. However Kodak says tests conducted by an independent company reveal it has managed to lop about 50 per cent off the cost of printing documents and photos from its closest competitors (based on its ink and paper costs), without compromising crucial print quality.

The EasyShare 5300 itself has a large, rectangular footprint and a quick once over with the tape measure reveals it to have dimensions of roughly 48cm wide x 30cm deep x 22 cm tall.

Perhaps accounting for its size is the fact that it is a printer, scanner and copier all in one box - but it is the manufacturer's promise of cost-effective and lab quality photo printing that is likely to turn the most heads.

The printer is designed to be very easy to use, and it comes with a single set-up sheet which you can ignore at your own peril. Following the reasonably simple instructions, we had the hardware and software all up and running in just over an hour.

The features that most impressed us were the ability to print pictures straight from the camera's memory card - which proved a fairly straightforward process using the large, clear LCD screen attached to the unit which let us scroll through the images we wanted to print. However we were unable to crop our images or remove red-eye in this mode.

Printing pictures from the computer proved more rewarding, with a range of editing and cropping functions and some special effects such as sepia tones and spotlights thrown in.

A USB drive and a separate PictBridge port for connecting a compatible digital camera extend the range of connectivity options for getting the printer hooked up to different devices, and the dedicated photo tray for 4x6 paper also saved a lot of messing about and failed attempts at matching up paper sizes.

The printer can also cleverly detect the type of paper being used (from a choice of regular and premium gloss and matte finishes) and will adapt photo print modes accordingly, again good for those of us who like to point, click and print with a minimum of fuss.

In terms of print speed, Kodak says 4x6 prints can take as little as 28 seconds to print, but our experience was more like a minute for a portrait type photo.

But features aside, in light of Kodak's claim that the printer can produce long-lasting lab quality prints, what we really wanted to see were some beautiful photographs.

Most of our snaps currently languish away on our computer hard drive with only a special chosen few ever being printed off for our albums. After a disappointing encounter with a dedicated photo printer bought at great expense some six years ago, we usually print out our snaps at a local Kmart photo kiosk for 29 cents apiece.

To put the EasyShare 5300 through its paces, we printed off fifteen of our very best digital photographs in 4x6 size on premium gloss paper using a variety of subject matter (babies, cats, boats, sunsets etc) in both indoor and outdoor settings.

Although some of our indoor shots displayed a slight graininess on the skin tones, our outdoor photos were full of rich colour and sharp detail - and all that we printed was certainly comparable to the print quality of the picture kiosk we frequent.

So is the Kodak EasyShare 5300 likely to transform the printer market in the manner of the Brownie camera in the 1900s?

Given that many of the product features do not stand out substantially from those of competitors, success will rest on ink price, picture quality, and historical goodwill attached to the Kodak brand. But while its ink does seem cheaper than that of its peers, and it does produce lovely, vibrant pictures, this model does not seem likely to become the disruptive force that Kodak was hoping for.

10 Buying Tips to get the Best Printer

When it comes down to buying a printer for yourself, the real key is finding the best printer for your needs. And how do you find the best printer? Ask questions! Here are 10 great questions to ask yourself in order to find the absolute best printer for all of your printing needs.

1. Is the printer going to be the only printer in the home or office? If yes, then you need the printer to be able to do multiple functions like print pictures, print text fast, and do it all effectively. But very few offices have one printer, and even some homes have more than one with the price of printers on the market. So it might not be a bad idea to buy two printers for your home with one for photo printing, and one for everything else.

2. Do you need a multifunction (all-in-one) printer or not? Nowadays you can buy printers that scan, copy and fax. Will you need your printer to perform any of those things? If you don’t necessarily need the printer do any of those things, then it will not be a factor you need to consider. If not, your buying decision will be much more speedy.

3. What are you going to use the printer for?If you have a need for one particular function in a printer, look for just that at first. For instance, if you want scanning capability, look for that first and then go for the printing part. This means what are you going to use the printer mainly for? Here are some common printer uses, usage levels and the type of printer that may be best suited for this usage:

• Light everyday home use: occasional printing , mainly text, maps for directions, a few photos here and there. (Basic entry level inkjet printer).

• Heavy home use (Or home office, light office): High number of pages, still mainly text or no photo images (no color needed then b/w laser printer, if color is needed a good fast inkjet printer, and if budget available than an entry level color laser).

• Home photo printing: Uses a few mainstream paper sizes, print family photos, cards, scrapbooking, but nothing in high volume (entry to medium level photo printer depending on the budget).

• Professional photo printing: High quality photo printing (high end photo printers).

• Printing marketing materials. Small businesses, real estate agents, etc. (color laser printers small-to-high end).

• Heavy office use for mainly text: if black/white is enough (b/w fast laser printer).

• Heavy office use with also a lot of images and color: a lot of text with graphics, company newsletters, brochures, graphs and presentations. (a good high end color laser printer)

4. What is your budget for buying that printer? You can start by coming up with a budget and then try to get the best printer that fits your needs in that budget. This can work several ways. Most likely, however, you will think of a number that looks great on paper. After a bit of research, you may find that you overestimated or underestimated the cost of a printer that fulfills all of your needs. Then, you’ll come up with a more accurate budget and go from there. Be sure to consider the cost of printer ink cartridges in your budget as well, as they will be a recurring expense.

5. What is the true cost of printer ownership?Find the supply cost of the printer before you buy it. Calculate the cost per page estimation—if the cartridge yield is 300 and the price of cartridge set is $30, then you will average 0.10 per page--and if you print about 200 pages a month you are looking at $20/month cost or more. Things to keep in mind:- Laser printers are less expensive per page (always) especially just black/white lasers as they are great for heavy printing. - Off Brand Printer Cartridges. Not all of them are good. Some stores sell not-so-great quality off-brand or after market products but if the seller is reputable and has a guarantee then why not try it?- Laser Printer Cartridges. Most of the time, if the model is popular enough, you can find good remanufactured cartridges. If you do this, buy remanufactured cartridges that have a new drum, as this will make a big difference. For less popular printer brands and models you may not be able to find cheaper cartridges so check before you buy. - For inkjet printers, most HP, All Lexmark, Xerox and some Canon do not have compatible new generic brands but do have cheaper--but not by much--remanufactured cartridges. Most Epson, Brother, Some Canon, Oki and Xerox have good compatible affordable cartridges. You can forget Dell. And Lexmark has old technology and inferior printers with expensive supplies that you can buy only from Dell.com directly but some cheaper remanufactured cartridges do exist.

6. Have you heard of the printer brand before? Usually, very few printers have breakthrough technology and designs that can last. Try something that has been tested by the market--you can read reviews for it and supplies are and will be available.

7. What do professionals and customers think about it?In this day and age, we spend a lot of time and money on our printers so it really is worth it to spend ample time on research. Some good printer review sources you can use include: Amazon , PC Magazine website, PCWorld Magazine Website and CNET reviews

8. What do your friends think about it?Ask friends and family about their printers if you think they use one similar to yours. There’s nothing like a good review from a close personal friend or relative to encourage you to make that purchase—if you trust their opinion, that is.

9. Have you thought about non-traditional brands?Consider other brands besides the usual suspects like HP, Lexmark, Epson, Canon or Dell. A lot of new good printers are out there like Brother and Samsung. Even Kodak is coming out with new printers these days. Doing your research means digger deeper than the label.

10. Where will you buy the printer from?Many people opt to buy products online these days, which is great. But a major purchase like a printer gets tricky. Buy the printer from a local store and if you are going to use it a lot, and the printer is expensive it might worth it to get their store warranty. Don’t try to save a few bucks ordering online. Printers are still delicate equipment and can get broken during shipment. Also, you might want to return the printer after you try it out and it’s much easier to walk into the store to do so.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:This article is written by Brenda Stokes. A longer version of this article is at 10 Buying Tips to select the best printer. She writes more on Discount Epson Printer Ink and provides tips Printer Ink Refill Instructions.