Small but Mighty!

I bought the Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock before the birth of my daughter because I wanted to be able to quickly and easily transfer pictures to my computer and print pictures to be mailed to the family members who aren't yet connected.

The Printer dock is small, so it doesn't take up a lot of real estate on your desktop and the paper tray removes easily to be stored in a drawer when not in use, improving the already compact 5" X 8" footprint.

Out of the box it is connected very quickly and easily with just a power cord and a USB cable. Insert the printer cartridge and paper and you are off and running. You do NOT need to install the EasyShare software to make the camera and printer work together. You can print directly from your camera.

The EasyShare dock recharges the camera battery very quickly. You will need to buy a rechargeable battery for your camera because it does not come with one and the EasyShare system does nothing for disposable batteries.

If you want to view and edit your pictures on the computer you will need to install the EasyShare software which comes with the printer. It is time consuming to install and I'm not happy with the overall performance of the software. On an average performance home PC, it takes longer than I think prudent to open the software and even longer still to complete the transfer.

The Kodak EasyShare software is initiated when you turn on the PC and remains dormant in the system tray(lower right portion of your screen with the clock in it) until you open a picture or push the transfer button on the printer dock. I have found the one transfer feature somewhat hit or miss, sometimes it instantly transfers the pictures other times I have to initiate the one touch feature with several touches. Generally, I remove the memory card from the camera and insert it directly in the computer to transfer my pictures because it is much faster and just as easy.

All that being said the software is easy to use and Kodak is constantly upgrading the package. It is easy to organize and edit pictures in the application. The editing tools are just average. You can't do any major editing or corrections to the pictures, just basic adjustments to light, color and size but those tools work well and are easy to figure out. There is a red eye correction tool, but it does not work well on pictures of my blue eyed baby.

As far as printing goes you would be hard pressed to get better quality anywhere else; That is the real reason to buy the printer dock. You can print directly from your camera or easily from the EasyShare software. No matter which you chose the Kodak color science dramatically improves your pictures. An amateur can look like a professional in one push of a button. I can honestly say that I print more pictures that I thought I would when I bought it. More often than not the pictures look better printed than they do online.

The printer paper/toner sets are pricey at about $25/40 prints. Compared to what it would cost to use Ritz online it is VERY expensive but quality is definitely better and that helps ease the pain in the wallet.

Even with the relatively annoying flaws of the transfer functions and EasyShare Software this printer dock is well worth the money in picture quality. In my opinion the prints are superior to any other desktop printing solution.