DIY Photo Printing With Kodak

It is time to print those photos stored on your hard drive with Kodak’s all-in-one printer. This device is easy to use, comes with a lot of connectivity options, and can produce affordable photos anytime.

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The unit does not have a lot of buttons, making it a simple device to use. Up front, users can find the power, menu, cancel, start, direction and zoom buttons, as well as a 3-inch colour LCD display. It also comes with a USB port, CF card slot, and 4-in-1 card (SD, MMC, MS, and XD) reader used for printing photos straight from the source.

Below the control panel are two trays – one designed for small photo papers (10x15cm and 13x18cm) and another for A4-sized papers. The unit also comes with a duplexer, allowing a user to print to both sides of a page.

It took a total of about 10 minutes to put the printer together and another 10 minutes to install the printer driver and Kodak’s AiO Home Center software. The main menu consists of six icons (Scan, Copy, Print, Configure, Tips, and Order Supplies), with the software helping users every step of the way. For example, those who want to scan a photo can choose to scan it in colour or black and white, apply colour restoration, or scan documents. Users can then edit the photo by applying colour restoration or facial retouches, and save the file to the hard drive with the desired file name.

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The ESP 7 can also be used without having to turn on a PC, thanks to its 3-inch LCD screen. The unit can copy a document or a photo, view and print photos, and scan. Users can also edit the network and printer settings, and manually perform printer maintenance. The interface is just as easy as the one found on the Home Centre software.

Kodak’s ESP 7 uses two cartridges: a black ink cartridge that costs $14.99 and a five-ink cartridge that costs $24.99. The printer took about 40 seconds to print (in Normal mode) a single page, with the document looking clear and smudge-free. In Draft mode, the printer was only able to push out a page every 13-14 seconds, which equates to a maximum of 5 pages per minute.

We printed a couple of 10x15cm photos using Kodak’s Ultra Premium Photo Paper and found that several photos (especially if it had a lot of blacks) suffered from banding. In addition, the ESP 7 took 50 seconds to print a 10x15cm photo, which is not as fast as what the company is claiming (28 seconds).

Overall, if you want a printer that can give you instant photos anytime, then the Kodak ESP 7 All-in-One printer may just be the product for you. It is available now for $299.