Kodak's EasyShare 5 AIO Photo Printer Review - Still Cheaper, But How Good?

Kodak's ESP 5 MSRP is $149.99 online, and it is available from $123 to $179. The package contains the printer, adapter, black and color cartridges, a paper pack, and software CD.

It comes with a USB port and device port for Pictbridge equipped cameras and can read seven different types of memory cards. The printer supports wireless Bluetooth with a separate $49 device.

It does not come with a USB cable. Be sure you have one on hand when you go to set up the printer.

There is a one year warranty on the printer and print head, and there is the same warranty on ink cartridges.

It says it needs 200 MB hard disk space, 128 MB RAM, and can be used on Windows XP (SP2), Vista, and Mac OSX 10.4.8 and higher versions. As reported in the review of the Kodak ESP 3, there are no Linux drivers, and there are no plans in the works for Kodak to provide them. General software updates can be downloaded from the Kodak web site. There were no reports of bloated software installations with this model, unlike the ESP 3.

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Kodak's ESP 5 is a multi-functional photo printer, which means it copies and scans up to 8.5 x 11 inch size material, and prints on multiple media. It prints paper sizes from 4 x 6 inch to 8.5 x 14 inches. There is a three inch color LCD display on the printer, which allows you to view, crop and print directly from the printer. It does typical photo image touchups. It prints at 100%, shrinks to fit, fills the page, and mirrors.

It can print in draft up to 30 ppm, and copies and scans at about the same speed. 4 x 6 inch photos print in just 30 seconds. It can make up to ninety-nine copies at a time, without a PC.

The Kodak EasyShare software is especially created for Kodak photo papers, and is unhappy with other photo paper.

It holds 100 sheets of regular 20 – 24 lb paper, from 4 x 6 inches to 8.5 x 14 inches, or can hold 30 sheets of 10 mil photo paper. It prints plain and coated papers, various photo papers, T-shirt transfers, transparencies, labels, and computer printable greeting cards. It senses when you use Kodak brand photo paper, from the backprint and its included Smart Print software.

It weighs just over 22 pounds, and is about 22 x 17 x 11 inches. 

The two cartridge system has plain black ink, and comes with five colors in the color cartridge, for a total of six pigment (archival) inks. These are the typical yellow, cyan and magenta, a photo black, and clearcoat to cover the print once the color is applied.