Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock

Other products by Kodak

Product Details

• Item Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001G6U7K
• Item model number: NEW
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #25 in

  Electronics > Camera & Photo > Printers & Scanners

• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 5, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
The EasyShare printer dock 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 (you 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.

Kodak Xtralife coating makes prints waterproof and durable under typical home use.

The EasyShare printer 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 4 x 6-inch 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 drugstores for my film camera prints. The contours are sharp as a knife, the contrast pitch perfect. At the push of a button, the printer will produce 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 more often than not, 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 or MMC cards using the built-in card slot.

Quibbles aside, though, the EasyShare printer dock is essential for anyone wishing 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
• Ease of use

Cons

• Frequent paper jams
• Printing from PCs is a hassle

Product Description
Anywhere, anytime. That's the philosophy behind the KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock. So now you can create vibrant, long-lasting, real Kodak photos whenever you please.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This printer dock rocks!, August 1, 2004

By	farmboyWI "farmboywi" (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

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 yellow, red, blue, and then one additional pass to apply the protective water-resistant coating. The pictures look awful while the yellow and red are being applied, then suddenly look real after the blue goes on. How it doesn't mess up the paper placement between each pass is beyond me, but the result is a stunningly sharp photo. The perforated tabs break off after printing, making the photo borderless. The only downsides I can think of is that photos are limited to 4 X 6" or smaller multiples and it doesn't work on batteries so you must be plugged into an AC outlet to print or transfer. I ordered this dock from Amazon.com 6 days before I got an email from Kodak saying that it was available.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding quality, but a wee bit overpriced..., December 23, 2004

By	Christy L. "scrappy_mom" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

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 refill kits, I love this printer! The prints look fantastic, and the best part is the dock came with a rechargeable battery pack for my camera! The dock acts as a charging base as well, and it has a status bar to tell you how far the charge has progressed.

All in all, it couldn't be more simple - the dock is fantastic! But Kodak needs a reality check on the prices they want for refill kits.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars cheap plastic junk, September 23, 2005

By	C. Conley (Birmingham,Alabama) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.