Amazon.com Review
The EasyShare printer is, in a word, awesome. Despite a few minor flaws, it essentially solves the basic problem of digital photography, namely that we all have hard drives crammed with thousands of images and no actual physical photos. (Remember, the kind you can put on your refrigerator and mail to your mom?) And it solves this problem
affordably, at about 29 cents a print once you factor in the cost of paper and cartridges. But most important of all, the quality of the photos it prints is eye-wateringly good.
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| Kodak Xtralife coating makes prints waterproof and durable under typical home use. |
The EasyShare is a snap to set up, even for dedicated technophobes like myself. You simply snap the pieces into place, dock your compatible Kodak camera, and press the print button. Printing itself takes about 60 seconds. The 4x6 photo paper passes back and forth through the printer four times, allowing you to witness the application of each primary color and a final, invisible protective coating. Does it really deliver archival quality, as claimed? There's no way to know for sure until a few decades have passed, but the colors at least
look sturdily vibrant and crisp. The print quality is in fact much higher than what I have come to expect from the drugstore for my film camera prints. The contours are sharp as a knife, the contrast pitch perfect. At the push of a button, you can get multiple prints (two, six, or nine) on a single sheet, which is perfect for making wallet-sized snaps of the kids.
Among the above-mentioned minor flaws, number one is paper jams, which happen every eighth print or so. The jams are solved easily enough by unplugging and plugging the unit back in, but are still annoying. The second problem is that printing from a PC is not nearly as smooth and easy as printing directly from a Kodak camera. Installing the included software is easy enough, but trying to print from my hard drive was a lesson in frustration. To get around the PC quandary, you can print directly from any PictBridge-enabled digital camera or from SD/MMC cards using the built-in card slot.
Quibbles aside though, the EasyShare printer dock is essential for anyone wishing to to complete the digital circle from virtual pictures to real-world photographs with glorious color and razor-sharp detail. --
David Stoesz Pros - Affordability
- Outstanding picture quality
- Easy to use
Cons - Frequent paper jams
- Printing from PCs is a hassle
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(83 customer reviews) 80 of 82 people found the following review helpful
This printer dock rocks!,
August 1, 2004 farmboyWI "farmboywi" (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Printer Dock (Electronics)
You will be amazed at the photos this thing prints. Better than anything that ever came out of an inkjet! It will print with or without a computer. As with most digital cameras, outdoor pictures look great, but indoor flash pictures may need to be touched up in a photo-editing program using a computer. The dock uses the same cartridge used in older versions of the printer dock, but check the list of cameras that are compatible with this dock. It will print from any PictBridge digital camera via a USB connection. It prints using thermal dye transfer. Basically, it's a roll of plastic film with yellow, red, blue, and a protective coating for each picture. I have tried rewinding the roll and using it to print new pictures, but it produces a ghost image of the original print on the new picture. Kodak pairs each cartridge with 40 sheets of tabbed glossy photo paper. It is magical to watch it work. The dock grabs the photo paper and sends it through the dock 4 times: once each to apply the...Read more
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding quality, but a wee bit overpriced...,
December 22, 2004 Christy L. "scrappy_mom" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Printer Dock (Electronics)
Now don't get me wrong. The printer dock itself is FABULOUS price-wise, especially if you buy a refurbished one off eBay like I did (87 bucks!!). Same one year warranty applies direct from Kodak. I was amazed at the quality of the prints. It's really neat to watch it work, and it's pretty quick. The prints look just as perfect as if they had come from the lab!
I am a scrapbook fanatic, so this printer comes in handy... but there is one problem... the paper/cartridge refill kits are ridiculously expensive! Buying on Amazon they average about 50 cents per print, but buying from your local store it's about 65 cents! Considering my local drugstore offers the same exact quality digicam prints for 29 cents each (10 cents on sale days and 10 free prints per month in the Sunday flyers), it's a pretty big rip off. If you buy the larger 80 pack the cost is about 46 cents per print - still far too high, in my opinion.
Other than the ridiculously inflated cost of the...Read more
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
cheap plastic junk,
September 23, 2005 C. Conley (Birmingham,Alabama) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Kodak Easyshare Printer Dock (Electronics)
When I bought this overpriced item in December I was intially very pleased by the quality of the photos. However, the cartridges are very expensive and the paper tray is already warped. Tonight when I was trying to print the paper jammed so completely that I cannot get it out. I figure I paid over $300 for probably fewer than 100 prints.
