The rest of its features are standard. You can scan photos or documents to a number of different programs on your PC as a number of different file types, attach them to an e-mail, scan to PDF, or simply save the scanned file to a folder. Using the included scanner sleeves, you can scan 35mm negatives or slides and save the scans to your PC or print the photos from the film. The printer lets you scan regular color negatives, black-and-white negatives, and color positive film (also called reversal film). You can scan up to 12 35mm negatives or up to eight slides at a time. When copying, you have a range of options such as 2-on-1, 4-on-1, image repeat, borderless copy, and two-sided copy. You can also reduce or enlarge your original from 25 to 400 percent.
Performance
We were pleased to see some significant speed improvements in the Pixma MP960 over the Pixma MP950, though it still lagged behind some of the older Pixma models in scan speeds. It printed text files at a zippy 9.42 pages per minute, a slight improvement over the MP950's 8.86ppm. It flew through 4x6 photos at a rate of 1.98ppm, more than twice the speed of the MP950. Color scans and grayscale scans were completed at about the same rate: 7.39ppm and 7.34ppm, respectively. Both numbers are well behind those of the Canon MP800's 10.75ppm (color) and 11.88ppm (grayscale) and the Canon MP830's 10.75ppm (color) and 11.61ppm (grayscale). The Canon Pixma MP810, recent successor to the Canon Pixma MP800, took a nosedive in scanning speeds. One of HP's top-of-the-line photo all-in-ones, the HP Photosmart C7180, offered all-around slower performance.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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We were also pleased to see that the Pixma MP960 maintained excellent print quality, though we preferred the MP950's scans to those of the MP960. The text prints were dark and sharp, with only minor jaggedness marring the characters. The color graphics print showed excellent color handling, pleasing saturation in color blocks, and smooth curves. The print's photo elements were also impressive, showing excellent color handling and great detail. The 4x6 photos exhibited sharp details and colors that popped, though we would've liked a bit more warmth in skin tones. The grayscale scan showed plenty of detail, though we noticed a bit of compression in both ends of the grayscale, resulting in some lost detail in both highlights and shadows. The color scan was also sharply detailed, but the colors were blown out, and the scanner had some difficulty handling bar-code-style patterns. Across the board, we preferred prints from the Pixma MP960 to those from its competition, such as the HP Photosmart C7180, though the HP's scans were better than the Canon's.
Problems with the scans aside, photo hobbyists will be very pleased with the print quality of the Canon Pixma MP960. Still, we liked the prints from the Canon Pixma MP600 just as much, and it's half the price. You'll take a hit in all task speeds except for photo speeds, though.
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Service and support
Canon provides a one-year limited warranty for its consumer printers, as well as a year of free, toll-free phone support Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT. You can extend the warranty to three years for $95. You also can get tech support via e-mail, and Canon says it will respond within 24 hours. Canon's site has FAQs, a troubleshooting tool, downloadable drivers and software, and PDFs of product and software manuals.
What You'll Pay
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