Does Kodak's All-in-One Printer Really Save On Ink?

In February I wrote about Kodak's newly announced and much-hyped All-in-One Printer. At launch Kodak touted the new printer as a novel way to significantly reduce consumers' printing costs, thus saving them tons of money in the ownership of their printers. A consumer would spend only 14 cents per color 4 x 6 photo (more than 50 percent savings over competitive printers) according to the press release. The technological breakthroughs Kodak attributed to the low cost included a print head that doesn't need to be replaced and a new ink technology that uses nano-particles. The ink cartridges cost only $10 for black and $15 for color replacements—which is less than 1/2 of what I pay now. So what's there not to like?

Whenever a company like Kodak makes claims about the cost of a print it invites considerable scrutiny. Popular Photography, one of the first to put the new printer through its paces, challenged the claims. The Pop Photo testers found that to get the quality that Kodak claimed you could get for 10 cents a print, consumers would have to upgrade to more expensive paper, thus spending more than 35 cents a print. According to Executive Technology Editor Michael McNamara, the Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-in-One printer turned out only 165 borderless color photos from an $18 package of paper and ink that is billed as producing 180 photos.

This review spawned a web chain reaction across enthusiast sites. Gizmodo and CrunchGear both picked up Popular Photography's test results. At CrunchGear, a Kodak engineer responded to the claims, explaining that the printer was "created to serve the needs of households that print large quantities of black and white and color documents in addition to color photos." In other words, Kodak tested the printer according to their formula and Popular Photography theirs.

The truth, one imagines, lies somewhere in the middle, but after spending a few days with the Kodak 5300 model, I'm convinced that it's a nice printer that will save the average consumer money over the long haul. The Kodak All-in-One series handles plain text, color graphics, and lab quality photo prints all with nice results. It's also a scanner and a color copier.

The 5300 I reviewed differs from the less expensive 5100 because it has a 3-inch color LCD display that provides picture previews and menu help. It also includes both USB and memory card slots that allow users to print digital photos without a PC. The printer's controls are well-marked and easy to use. Three large buttons (photo, scan, and copy) are your main controls. A row of buttons controls the picture rotation, zoom, and transfer of images from a memory card or USB. There's even a proofsheet button to display the contents of your memory card or camera. The paper tray contains a main tray for 8 x 11 paper and a photo paper tray for 4X6 prints. A light illuminates when you've selected photo paper, a nice way to prevent you from using the wrong paper.

The printer took only a few minutes to set up using the accompanying CD, though the EasyShare software is a bit on the hefty side. The software includes lots of interactive menu choice settings for printing, scanning, and copying, along with a tutorial. If you're already used to using something like PhotoShop to ready your photos for printing, you may be frustrated by Kodak's total control. Novices who need hand-holding to get good results when scanning, printing, etc., will love it.

For that matter, everything about this printer works better if you adopt a total Kodak lifestyle. For example, Kodak photo papers are bar-coded; the printer senses the code and adjusts itself accordingly. Integration with Kodak's online EasyShare Gallery is tight, too. You can order prints online or print to your printer from the same software. Even the Kodak cameras are integrated. I used the printer with the EasyShare V803 camera. First I tagged my favorite shots in the camera, then I printed them by connecting the camera to the printer and pressing "Share" on the camera.

I like the Kodak system a lot, and think it's especially good for those who need a helping hand while printing. I haven't tried to run hundreds of photos yet, so I can't tell you whether or not the Kodak All-in-One solution saves you as much money on inks as it claims. I can tell you that my prints have been lovely (glossy photo paper), my text sharp and clean. Printing graphics, scanning, and copying work well, too. This is far from a speed demon and the "big" software makes it slow going. But I think you'll love the results. The All-in-Ones start at $199.

For reviews of other All-in-One printers.