The middle child of Kodak's Easyshare 5000 series, the Kodak EasyShare 5300 is a decent all-in-one, featuring scan, print, and copy functionalities. It can also carry out these basic functions in standalone, PC-free mode, thanks to its convenient preview LCD, memory card support, and PictBridge feature. It uses inexpensive, high-yield ink tanks, but only uses 4 colours (basic CMYK), unlike other MFP brands that use 6. The Kodak EasyShare 5300 also lacks wireless capabilities, although Bluetooth comes as an optional feature.
Design
The Kodak EasyShare 5300 comes in a white and silver finish, and measures about 1.8x14.7x8.8 inches. Under the adjustable scanner lid (for accommodating thick originals) is a flat bed scanner, which can take up to A4 originals. There are memory card slots that can read common card formats plus 2 USB ports – one for connecting to PictBridge enabled cameras, and another for using thumbdrives or for plugging in the optional Bluetooth adapter. The Kodak EasyShare 5300 also has a paper cassette that can handle up to 100 sheets of plain paper, plus a dedicated photo tray.
Advantages
The Kodak EasyShare 5300 features an LCD display for previewing photos as well as selecting tasks and options. It prints at a rate of 32ppm (black) and 30ppm (colour); 4x6 inch photos come out in less than 1 minute (on average). Photo quality is excellent, considering that the printer only uses a 4-ink system.
Disadvantages
The Kodak EasyShare 5300 does have an intuitive control panel and a large enough LCD display, but it still doesn't allow users to edit photos directly from the machine. The machine also won't allow a user to scan an image and directly print it on a photo paper – something that can be done with no problem by other competing MFPs.
