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 Copy Features (6.50)
The HP Photosmart C5180’s copy function, is, as on most multifunction models, very simple with few frills. Users can copy from the HP Solution Center or directly from the unit itself. Options include paper size, quality, brightness, and reduction/enlargement of 50% to 400%. Separate black and color buttons engage the respective copy functions.
Copy Speed (3.80)
Copy speeds at the maximum dpi, which must be the interpolated resolution of 19,200 dpi, were unbelievably lengthy, at over 18 minutes, yielding only 0.28 ppm. And that was just a black-and-white document. Interpolated resolution means that the scanning software is creating pixels of color averaged from surrounding colors to add to the pixel count, a wholly unnecessary task except for line art. The copy speed test did not include the times for interpolated resolution.
So, ignoring the interpolated resolution, even at the best setting, the HP C5180’s page-per-minute copy rates were still considerably less—0.86 ppm—than the best quality rates of two competing all-in-ones, Canon’s Pixma MP600, at 2.67 ppm, and Kodak’s EasyShare 5300, at 1.56 ppm. Color documents took another half-minute, yielding 0.77 ppm, at the best setting. This rate was closer to the two competitors, but still substantially less.
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Copy Pages per Minute
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Black
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Color Text
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Text
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& Graphics
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Canon Pixma MP600
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2.67
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1.12
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Kodak EasyShare 5300 ES
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1.56
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0.90
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HP Photosmart C5180
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0.86
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0.77
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Copy Color Quality (7.17)
The HP C5180’s error value for our Colorcheck copy quality test was very good, achieving only 6.97. The copy test uses the same color chart and program as the scan quality test. We copy Gretag Macbeth’s 24-square Colorchecker chart, which contains commonly photographed colors, skin tones, and gray tones, and then scan the print into our test computer using the Epson Perfection V700 scanner, our calibrated lab scanner. Running this image through Imatest’s Colorcheck program yields output that shows us the average difference between the printer’s interpreted color values and the Colorchecker chart’s ideal color values. One of this test’s most revealing output charts is the a*b* Color Error chart (shown below), which graphically displays where the ideal value (represented by squares) for a given color lies in the sRGB color space in relation to the printer’s interpretation of that color (represented by circles). "Camera" on this chart is actually the scanner; this test is also performed on cameras. The average distance between all color values is the color error. In this case, the color error value we use is the Delta C uncorrected error; this represents the color value without taking lightness into consideration or making any corrections to color.
As can be seen in the chart below, the HP C5180 represented skin tones quite well, as it also did in the scan test. The error that did occur was in the reds and blues. Saturation vales, represented as a percentage (the average of the printer’s values divided by the ideal values), were below 100 percent, which suggests that there is something lost in the copy process. This can be seen in the print itself, with the colors appearing somewhat washed out. In contrast, the Canon MP600 boosted saturation in its copy of the color chart, yielding a value of 108 percent.
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