Kodak Photo Printers
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Kodak’s Easy Share 500 photo printer uses dye-sublimation as printing technology and was at a point one of the most popular 4 by 6 inch compact photo printers on the market. Dye-sublimation produces much better quality prints overall because compared to inkjet technology no little dots are visible.
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The technology makes perfect use of heat and transfers the dye impregnated in a ribbon to the sheet of paper. In addition to the standard cyan, magenta and yellow, the ribbon also contains a clear coating that is used as a protective layer. The coating turns the prints into waterproof and sun resistant photographs that will maintain their quality for years on end.
This particular printer is a bit larger than your average, measuring 3.1 x 13.1 x 7.3 inches and weighing 2.8 pounds. Its design is nice and reminds you of how most digital cameras look. On top of the printer you will find a 3.5 inch LCD screen, which is rather low-resolution but will do decently as functionality. You may notice pixels when previewing a photo to print out, but you’ll get the general idea of what you’re printing so one can’t complain that much aside from esthetics. The navigating menu is pretty simple and straight forward (maybe too much so) and you’ll use a set of dedicated buttons for going forward, backward in the menu and making selections.
As many other similar devices, the Easy Share 500 Kodak photo printers also offer versatility. The Easy Share 500’s users will be able to print directly from memory card, a compatible PictBridge digital camera or camera phone or straight from the PC. Also added is built-in Bluetooth for printing from any compatible device, which is somewhat rare as most printers only offer Bluetooth via an optional (separately purchased) adapter.
The 8-in-1 Card Reader, found right on the front of the device can handle most types of memory cards including Compact Flash, MultiMedia Card, xD, Memory Stick, Secure Digital, Magic Gate and others. If you think you need yet another alternative you can purchase separately a 802.11b card that will allow your printer to connect to a network wirelessly as well as to any WiFi powered device.So you can basically print from any device that can store pictures through just about any technology that’s currently available on the market. That doesn’t sound bad for a printer that retails for under $200.
Some nice features these Kodak photo printers have to offer include the PerfectTouch technology that makes pictures more realistic and bright or red-eye-reduction at the touch of a button. The Kodak 500 is ideal for users who want a mini kiosk that works without a PC and can be brought along just about anywhere. They’ll be limited as photo size to 4 by 6 inches (maximum, but 3 x 4 inch with borders, 2×3 inch and 1.3 x 2 inch mini photos can also be printed) but will have all the options in the world when it comes to devices that can be used to print from.
The EasyShare printer dock plus series 3 (hereafter the s3) — that lower case name is intentional, we’re told — has an unrememberable name to go with its unforgettable performance. But it’s descriptive. The $180 s3 is really a combination camera dock and a printer.