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Speed/Timing (6.24)
Photo printing tests showed Kodak outperforming the other two recently tested photo all-in-one printers (the Canon Pixma MP600 and the HP Photosmart C5180), with significant differences in 4x6 printing speeds and smaller gaps when printing 8.5 x 11-inch prints. The Kodak ES5300 printed 5.7-megabyte files from our test computer at 0.58 ppm and 19-megabyte files at 0.56 ppm, while the Canon MP600 was slightly less, at 0.52 ppm and 0.51 ppm, respectively.
Print times were slightly less when printing from a CompactFlash card, but still greater than the competition. The EasyShare 5300 turned the tables on the HP C5180, printing our smaller file nearly three times faster. The Kodak printer’s score is even more impressive considering that it wasn’t even able to print our large 19-megabyte image from a CompactFlash card; the printer’s card reader simply wouldn’t recognize the file. The printer would potentially have generated a much greater score had we been able to print the larger image. As a result, the printer scored 0 for those two tests.
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Photo Print Speeds in Pages per Minute
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From Computer
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From CompactFlash
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4x6
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8.5 x 11
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4x6
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8.5 x 11
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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Kodak EasyShare 5300
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2.18
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1.67
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0.58
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0.56
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1.54
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n/a
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0.56
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n/a
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Canon Pixma MP600
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1.62
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1.66
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0.52
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0.51
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0.88
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0.56
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0.41
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0.28
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HP Photosmart 5180
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1.19
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1.19
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0.29
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0.32
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0.57
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0.53
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0.21
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0.20
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Quality
Color Accuracy (2.58)
We test a printer’s color accuracy by measuring its output against an ideal set of color values, namely the Gretag Macbeth Colorchecker chart, shown below. As can be seen from the list below the chart, the colors correspond to often photographed colors, such as skin tones, sky, flowers, foliage, and gray tones. Each of these values has a corresponding color value, known as a La*b* value, associated with it. We score printers based on how far away the printer’s values deviate from the ideal values. These values are read using our EyeOne spectrophotometer from X-Rite. The resulting error values for each color, calculated as ΔE values, are averaged. This number provides us with our score.
The Kodak EasyShare 5300 scored low compared to the other all-in-one photo printers in our lab and, out of the ten printers we tested prior to printerinfo’s launch, it only scored better than one color laser and two dye sublimation compact printers. The ES5300’s mean color error value was 8.34, as opposed to a color error of 6.48 for the Canon Pixma MP600 and 7.64 for the HP Photosmart C5180. The printed chart appeared washed out and undersaturated, with most colors taking on a greenish-yellow cast. Blues and oranges in particular showed the greatest error. Gray tones, on the other hand, seemed to reproduce fairly well, showing the smallest amount of color error. A scan of the EasyShare 5300’s printed chart is show above for reference. (This image is not meant to be relied upon as an exact reproduction as colors as colors will shift in scanning and reproduce differently on different monitors.)
Color Gamut (3.74)
The range of colors a printer can reproduce, know as color gamut, is important to good reproduction of actual colors and tones. We compare a printer’s gamut with the standard Adobe RGB (1998) color space, which encompasses over one million colors (1,225,088 to be exact).
Good quality professional photo printers can score in the upper 50th percentile. The Kodak EasyShare 5300 scored below average, reproducing only about 50 percent of the Adobe RGB space. This score was just below that of the Canon MP600, which reproduced about 52 percent of the color space, and well above that of the HP C5180, covering only 42 percent of the color space. The score was not surprising given the quality of the prints produced by the ES5300.
A graphic representation of the two gamuts is shown below, with the grid pattern representing the Adobe RGB space and the solid color blob, the 5300’s gamut.
Dmax (8.66)
The Easyshare 5300 scored among the highest of the printers tested for launch, with a DMax value of 2.43. Dmax is the maximum printable black possible for a given printer. This value is important in printing as the black tone sets the black edge for the range of tones possible in a print, with the white of the paper at the other extreme.
We test Dmax on both the manufactuer’s and a third-party paper stock using both the included profiles and our own custom profiles. The ES5300 performed best (highest Dmax) on the Kodak Ultra Premium paper using the stock profile. Optimal densities would reach 2.50 for printed material, so the ES5300’s value is excellent. Even the Canon Pixma MP600, which scored higher than the Kodak on the other quality tests, paled (pun intended) in comparison, with a Dmax of only 2.20.
Black and White (8.00)
The high Dmax score of the ES5300 is expressed in the quality of the black-and-white prints. The tonal range was excellent, with quality (detail) falling off slightly in the highlights. This may have been at least partially the result of optical brighteners in the paper (Kodak Ultra Premium High Gloss) pumping up the whites. Results were comparable to high-end printers such as the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 and similar to the excellent prints made with the Epson PictureMate Snap.
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