Kodak ESP 5 All-in-One Photo Printer Review
ESP 5 - Multi-function, Colour Inkjet Photo Printer from Kodak
Kodak released its first multi functional printers in the year 2007, ie, the Kodak EasyShare 5100 and EasyShare 5300 which were more of business oriented. But their latest ESP 5 multifunction printer is the other way round, being more of family and home office flavour. This printer seems to be having the prefect combination of the features for the casual photographers not looking for the minute details and fond of printing lot of photos.
Stylish but fragile design:
Kodak ESP 5 all-in-one photo printer is well designed but does it have a good built quality? The printer has a simple black design having a hi-end look. It is very compact for a multi-functional printer measuring 6.9″ x 16.6″ x 11.8″ (H x W x D). The perforated scanner coves adds to the elegant looks of the printer. Since the printer is made of light plastic, it gives you a flimsy and delicate feel to the device. The good combination of high gloss and matte finish, is adorable. The ink bay in a thin plastic arm is revealed when you raise the cover. The cover on top of the scanner bed folds on a fixed hinge that does not reach over thicker items like large books.
Big LCD display:
The most impressive and the seller point feature of the ESP 5 is that, it is having a 3-inch LCD display that has a good display quality. This LCD display allows you to view, select and even edit the images before they are printed. The size and colour accuracy of the display is so good that, it is the preferred mode of viewing the images than using your PC. The main control panel has simple and very clearly labelled buttons that gives you easy access to all the stand alone functions from the main control panel. The buttons include the on/off switch, a four way square navigation pad with the OK button in its centre, zoom in and zoom out buttons, menu, cancel, and a start buttons.
Connectivity:
The connectivity ports available in Kodak ESP 5 Inkjet photo printer includes a memory card reader and a PictBridge port. The card reader is a multi-format card reader that prints images directly from cards such as SD/SDHC, MemoryStick, XD-Picture Card, or Compact Flash memory. The PictBridge port, as you know will allow the printer to be connected to compatible digital cameras for direct printing without the need of any intermediate computers. The absence of Ethernet or any wireless networking options in the printer proves that it is purely consumer oriented.
Not dedicated cassette of outlet tray?
This Kodak Photo Printer does not have a dedicated cassette for holding the paper. All the sheets are fed through a single tray and the retaining fence is difficult to operate with. If the papers are not arranged properly, then the ESP 5 will bend and jam them witch will be a bigger head ache if you do not take the trouble of aligning them properly for feeding it. To add to the disappointments, there is no output tray too. Paper is drawn up around a roller at the back of the unit and then deposited unceremoniously atop the feed stack when the printing is complete. This kind of set up can easily get drawn back into the printer along with other sheets that can lead to jams, over printing, and a hell lot of other messes. And hence, if you are printing a multi-page document, then it requires constant vigilance.
Simple set-up:
Set-up of the Kodak ESP 5 Colour inkjet Printer is simple and straight forward with the provided Kodak’s guide that does not have much wordings but a lot of graphics that gives clear explanation on how to get the print head and the cartridges installed properly. Installing the software can also be done in a snap. Though the process is easy, it is time consuming. Once the software has been installed, Kodak immediately asks you to update it, which would eat up another 15 minutes. After this is done, the range of functionalities offered by ESP 5 is listed in its Home Center menu. From this screen you will be able to operate the printer and modify a basic list of the configuration options and even get assistance from the manufacturer’s website. This software will be of more help only to the novice users and printing aspirants will find it only as a hindrance. Yet, there are some complications in the operation and performance of the unit which might make this unit less appealing for users who are not gadget gurus.
Two cartridge configuration:
We know that cartridges that have separate ink tanks are more cost-effective. But in this case, though Kodak ESP5 Printer uses the two cartridge configuration in which one tank has the black and the other, all the five pigment-based colour inks and still boasts an extremely low operating cost. But, as in the former case, you will not be able to avoid wastages and lacks flexibility too. Kodak sells three different printing bundles that include black and colour ink cartridges as well as several types of paper.
Features:
Kodak ESP 5 is a multi-function printer like that of Kodak ESP 9 Photo Printer that does printing, scanning and copying in office-quality. The ESP 5 can operate on its own or connected to a computer.
ESP 5 as a scanner:
The scanner of the ESP 5 cannot be said as a high performing unit, but is good and usable. The scan resolution of 1220DPI is worth it for a consumer printer. The platen that is available is large enough to handle a Euro-spec A4 size sheets which is roughly equal to 8.5×11.7 inches. Though the lid looks good, it is flimsy and flops out of the way in an undesirable fashion when raised fully. Since there is no vertical axis, scanning of thick documents is going to be troublesome and you will find it really tough to get a clean capture. The built quality is awful and is sure to break off some day. We do not know where had the Kodak’s designer’s brain were..
Though the physical area of the scanning easily irritates you, the same is not the case with the software as it cannot be made that simple. Click on “Scan Pictures and Documents” from the home screen and you get a basic drop down menu with some simple document type options to select from and if you are looking for some more advanced options, then just click over the “Advanced” tab that gives you more of the complicated options. With the help of this software, you will be able to set the resolution to up to 1200 DPI and you are provided with four levels of sharpening options. The scanner quality is optimal only for those who are not looking for doing serious documents whose quality matters the most. Kodak has also included some photo-kiosk style options in the scanner interface which is excellent for amateur users who are looking to duplicate prints. The red-eye correction feature is a nice addition just in theory, as without asking for a target selection area before going to work, we were not surprised to find that it did not seem to do much.
Kodak has employed the “PerfectTouch Technology” which is successful. Using some of the dynamic range optimisation system, the shadows and highlights are balanced. This tool can be used either before or after the scan, and the tool does makes a noticeable difference with the amount of highlights preserved. Edge definition can be enhanced by increasing the sharpness a bit, but in many ways this just makes busy areas of prints more of a hard-edged, artifacted mess in their digital versions. Those looking to turn a critical eye toward their scans would be advised to look elsewhere, however, and the lack of film scanning options probably seals the deal on the scanner for serious photo enthusiasts.
Printing operation:
As a printer, the Kodak ESP all-in-one inkjet photo printer works better when controlled directly for printing a range of applications and the paper sizes and the type was recognised easily. But, it is not the same case when you operate the machine via the Home Center menu. The printer had troubles in recognising smaller paper sizes and feeding the stock accordingly. Since most of the users will be looking to print using the home center, Kodak could have given more attention and perfections to this part.
The printer produces a lot of noise that left us wondering which century are we in. The ESP 5 produced a lot of whirring, buzzing, and screeching sounds that can be surely heard by the person next door. Those who loath traffic noises will hate this device too.
Kodak has avoided specifying the print resolution of the printer and has given it as just “lab quality”. We would like you to know that the print quality of a printer does not depend on the so called print resolution as the quality of the photographs from a digital camera does not depend on its Mega Pixel value. This value is very important for us as review writes for the sake of comparison.
Printing speeds:
The ESP5 does the monochrome printing and copying at the speed of 30ppm and colour printing at the speed of 29 pages per minute. A border less 4 X 6 is printed in just 30 seconds. Kodak ESP 5 is capable of borderless printing for sizes up to 8.5 x 11 which is very impressive as this kind of specification can be expected only in some of the hi-end multi-functional printers. The specifications of the Kodak ESP5 is very impressive for its price. The design, easy to use interface and extremely low operating costs are the main reasons why you should go for this photo printer.
The quality of the colour prints were just above average and printing black-and-whites from the ESP 5 yielded somewhat disappointing results. Kodak ESP 5 struggles to produce the rich, deep blacks that we would to expect from photo-quality printers.
Package contents and warranty:
The package contents are, Kodak ESP 5 All-in-One Printer, Black Ink Cartridge, Color Ink Cartridge, Paper Sample Pack, Power supply, Adapter cord and Startup Guide. The printing software included are, Kodak EasyShare, AiO, Home Center and driver.
Kodak ESP 5 comes with one year limited warranty.
Verdict:
All of that said, as a general purpose printer for general-purpose users, if the ESP 5 does not do anything exceedingly well, it does just about everything good enough. The low cost operations of the device is appreciable. It is good for those who are looking for just getting the job done and not serious about the little details. But if you are a serious photographer, this device will disappoint you.
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Kodak ESP 5 Photo Printer - Technical Specifications, Features
| Manufacturer | Kodak |
| Model Name | Kodak ESP 5 |
| Printer type | Multi-function printer |
| Printing Technology | Ink-jet - Colour - Photo printer |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 16.6 x 11.7 x 7 inches |
| Weight | 11.9 lbs |
| Memory cards supported | CompactFlash , Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard , SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card , Memory Stick Pro, SDHC Memory Card |
| Supported Media Type | Film, Labels, Photo paper, Plain paper, Coated paper, Greeting cards, Iron-on transfers |
| Borderless Photo Sizes | 3.9 in x 7 in , 3.9 in x 11.8 in , 3.95 in x 5.9 in , 5.12 in x 7.1 in , 7.87 in x 9.84 in , A4 (8.25 in x 11.7 in) , Letter A Size (8.5 in x 11 in) |
| Standard Media Capacity | 100 sheets |
| Document Original size | Min: 3.94 in x 5.9 in Max: Legal (8.5 in x 14 in) |
| Copying Features | Fit to page , Mirror Copy |
| Max Printing Speed | Monochrome: up to 30 pages/min Colour: up to 29 pages/min |
| Print functions | 100%, fit-to-page, fill-page, mirror, poster |
| Copy quantity | black & colour, 1–99 copies without PC |
| Maximum scan size | 8½ × 11.7 in. (21.6 × 29.7 cm) |
| Scan Element | CIS |
| Operating System Supported | MS Windows XP, MS Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later |
| Image enhancement features | Facial retouch, Kodak Perfect Touch Technology, red eye reduction, colour restoration (with KODAK AiO Home Center Software)3 |
| Ink handling | 2-cartridge, 6-ink system |
| Protocols supported | USB 2.0, USB 2.0,USB EKPTP BLUETOOTH |
| Number of USB ports | 1 host port, 1 device port |
| Power Consumption Operational | 120 Watt |
| Warranty | One year |
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