Kodak EasyShare 5300 review

Features
The 5300 uses a two-cartridge ink system, which Kodak refers to as a "six-ink" system. It's actually a four-ink system because the black-only cartridge is for mono text only, and one of the five 'colours' in the colour tank is actually a clear coating designed to protect the image. EasyShare black cartridges cost a relatively meagre £6.99 and have a 351-page yield, while colour cartridges cost £9.99 and have a 105-page yield.

According to Kodak, this equates to 7p per page for 100x150mm photos. It also says this isn't on a draft setting -- there's no such mode on the printer. We weren't able to independently verify Kodak's print cost claims, but it's worth bearing in mind that inks can't be replaced individually. If you run out of cyan, for example, you'll have to replace the entire colour cartridge, which can be hugely annoying, not to mention expensive.

The EasyShare 5300 is well-equipped but the software has some foibles. In the scanning feature, for example, there's no way of saving scans directly to USB key. You can scan directly to an application, but only if you use Kodak AiO Home Center (included), Microsoft Paint or Kodak EasyShare (also included) -- it's not possible to scan directly to MS Word or Photoshop, for example. We also don't like the way you can't directly copy a photo -- to produce a duplicate you'll need to scan to file then print it. It gets the job done, but it's not a very elegant solution.

You can edit photos but you can't, for example, create projects like calendars, cards and collages for printing at home. The software redirects you to the Kodak Web site and asks you to place an order for an online print -- somewhat nonsensical if you've just bought an economical, easy-to-use photo printer.

Performance
Print speeds were generally impressive. 100x150mm photos printed at 1.08 pages per minute (ppm), A4 graphics pages at 2.59ppm and plain text documents at 4.34ppm. The speed and quality of scanned images was also high. A4 colour scans were handled at 6.3ppm and greyscale at 6.36ppm.

Photos aren't quite lab quality, but you, and more importantly your loved ones, will be very hard-pressed to spot any flaws. There are a few reservations, though. Black text looked terrific from reading distance, but closer inspection showed slightly fuzzy edges. There were also jagged edges on curved lines, and flesh tones showed very minor graininess.

Conclusion
The EasyShare 5300 is one of the best inkjets in its class. We applaud Kodak for attempting to make printing less expensive, but there are a few shortcomings that spoil the party.

The software and user-interface can be a little screwy and individual inks can't be replaced, but this aside we'd recommend it wholeheartedly to the casual user.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield