Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock PLUS

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

• Frequent paper jams
• Printing from PCs is a hassle

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

• Frequent paper jams
• Printing from PCs is a hassle