Canon Pixma MP760

Reviewed on 4/6/05    Release date: 2/17/05    Like many inkjet multifunction machines destined for the home, the Canon Pixma MP760 all-in-one lacks a fax machine but packs in digital photography-friendly features, starting with built-in camera-card slots and a PictBridge camera port. Like the Epson Stylus Photo RX620, this Canon adds film, negative, and slide scanning to its repertoire, which should please anyone who wants to digitize old negatives or print straight from slides without turning on a computer. The photo, color-graphics, and text-printing skills of the MP760 are exemplary, and they outstrip those of the Epson RX620. Although we liked the Epson Stylus CX6600, we enjoyed this Canon even more for its color LCD, bonus scanning skills, and better photo prints. If your office needs to bundle a fax machine and an ADF with an all-in-one, you might prefer the Canon Pixma MP780 or the lower-price Dell 962. Otherwise, you'll love the Canon Pixma MP760's good behavior, friendly design, and full features.

Design of Canon Pixma MP760

The Canon Pixma MP760 all-in-one stands a tall but streamlined 10.5 inches, and its rounded, black-and-silvery-plastic case takes up nearly a 20-inch square on your desk with the front and rear paper guides extended. The semicircular control panel is spacious and well laid out with clearly labeled buttons. You get a pop-up, 1.5-by-2-inch color LCD to view and tinker kiosk-style with images from scans, your memory card, or a PictBridge camera.

You open a door at the base of the printer to reveal slots for popular media cards (CompactFlash, Microdrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MagicGate, SD card, and MultiMediaCard) and a PictBridge port to connect to compatible digital cameras. Press a button on the machine's right side, or simply start printing, to flip down the front panel of the MP760 and open the output tray. A rear cover in back helps to clear paper jams, and if you carefully tilt the MP760 on its side and remove the paper-cassette tray, you can open the duplexer and further access any pesky paper jams. The MP760's paper-cassette tray and the autofeeder each hold an ample 150 sheets of plain paper, and you can load them with different media if you want to switch between printing, say, plain paper memos and inkjet paper brochures.

The scanner lid detaches completely, a nice touch if you need to scan, for example, an encyclopedia page or your own mug. The underside of the scanner lid contains a removable plastic frame that holds film negatives and slides; just insert your delicate materials in the frame and align the frame on the glass bed when you're ready to scan.

For printing and copying, the MP760 uses five individual ink cartridges: three for color; one large pigment-based black for text and graphics; and a smaller, dye-based black exclusively for photographs. Individual ink tanks make refills convenient--if you prefer to replace dwindling colors one at a time rather than buy a multicolor cartridge whenever one color runs dry, as with the HP Photosmart 2710. To access the cartridges, pull up on a plastic tab under the control panel and lift up the top of the printer.

Features of Canon Pixma MP760

Like many machines in its class, the Canon Pixma MP760 all-in-one offers convenient photo printing from digital memory cards or a PictBridge camera, with or without a computer. You can also use the MP760 as a standalone copier that reduces, enlarges, and even makes double-sided documents in color or black and white. But what really sets the MP760 apart from most rivals is its ability to scan film negatives, slides, and transparencies--also without your computer, if you choose.

To take advantage of this feature, remove the white panel on the underbelly of the scanner lid to retrieve the black-plastic frame that holds negatives and slides. Slide the frame out and insert the materials to scan, then align it on the glass scanner bed. Once the frame is in place, press the MP760's Film button, scroll through the images that appear on the LCD, and choose the appropriate media, such as color negative film. Once you've scanned the image, peek at the final version on the LCD, and you can print right away.

As we mentioned earlier, the MP760 uses five ink cartridges for printing. The large-capacity black ink tank costs $13.95 to replace, and the four smaller tanks cost $11.95 each. Canon estimates that the large black ink tank will print about 1,500 pages of text for an ultralow penny per page. Using Canon's cartridge-yield numbers, we estimate that a nonphotographic color document will cost about a reasonable 3.5 cents per page.

In addition to its standalone functions, the MP760 brings even more to the party when you connect its USB 2.0 port via a cable to a PC running Windows 98 through XP or with a Mac running OS version 10.2.4 to 10.3.x. The full software installation takes less than five minutes and requires 430MB of space on your hard drive. Canon's drivers live under the MP Navigator, which initiates scanning and printing and gives you options to save an image on your computer, print it, or send it to others through your own e-mail system. MP Navigator launches the appropriate software to complete a task, such as the bundled OCR software Omnipage SE 2.0 to recognize text or ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 to manipulate your photographs.

Performance of Canon Pixma MP760

Speed
Speedier than most inkjet all-in-ones, the Canon Pixma MP760 beat the zippy HP Photosmart 2710 in every category but text printing. The MP760 created an 8x10-inch photo in about a minute, nearly twice as fast as the rival HP 2710 and more than three times faster than the lower-price Lexmark P6250. Without sacrificing quality, its scans were also faster than those of the Epson Stylus Photo RX620.

Quality
The Canon Pixma MP760 all-in-one aced CNET Labs' print quality tests across the board. Text on inkjet paper looked dark and dense, and it was easy to read. Color graphics on inkjet paper showed smooth gradients and accurate colors. Our color test photo displayed lifelike flesh tones and excellent details.

Both the color and grayscale scans produced by the MP760 at the default settings looked washed out and lacked black. However, the scans didn't introduce any errors into the images, and they looked very good at custom settings, with true blacks, white whites, and good details.

Click here to learn more about how CNET Labs tests printers.

Service and support of Canon Pixma MP760

The Canon Pixma MP760 all-in-one comes with a setup poster and a 36-page quick-start guide that covers basic operations. The software CD contains a highly detailed owner's manual in three parts: a user guide, a software guide, and a photo-application guide that explains Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint and Easy-WebPrint.

More information and support for the MP760 is available on Canon's Web site, which offers FAQs, troubleshooting topic lists, and an e-mail link to tech support. Toll-free tech support is available for the yearlong life of the warranty, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, except on holidays. We'd like to see full weekend support for a product geared for home use.