Canon Pixma MP780

The Canon Pixma MP780 is a capable all-in-one inkjet photo printer that faxes, copies, and scans with or without a PC or Macintosh computer. Designed for home or modest-size offices, the MP780 doesn't include the fancy networking capabilities of the HP OfficeJet 7410, nor does it suffer the same high price. Instead, the MP780 combines sensible time-saving features, such as a five-colour individual ink cartridge system, two separate paper sources, a 35-sheet-capacity automatic document feeder (ADF), and automatic duplexing, all with a medium-size price tag. The MP780 is a respectable colour graphics printer, too -- good for photos but only fair for text. As a photo printer, the MP780 lacks built-in flash-media slots, but it offers photographers a PictBridge port. For more fun with photos, Canon provides updated, feature-enhanced image-editing software.

Design
The Canon Pixma MP780 has a smooth, compact design with rounded edges and gently rolling curves. The MP780 is on the small side for an all-in-one, measuring 486 x 472 x 314 mm (minimum dimensions with paper trays and other extensions closed) and weighing 13.7 kg. Its exterior is slate-grey plastic with translucent smoke-coloured paper guides and a shiny black-plastic control panel and output tray cover.

The MP780 treats you to an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a cassette-style paper tray, each holding 150 sheets. If you load them with different paper types, you can switch between types easily. Combined, the automatic sheet feeder and the cassette paper tray hold 300 sheets of plain paper -- more than enough to handle the incoming fax traffic maximum of 250 sheets. Like many all-in-ones, the ADF rests atop the flatbed scanner lid. You can raise this lid about 2.5 cm and remove it to scan hefty books. Closing the heavy scanning lid can be rocky, so support it with both hands to prevent it from crashing down under its own weight.

The MP780's control panel juts out under the scanner lid and features two keypads, one numeric, plus eight speed-dial faxing buttons. Sandwiched between the keypads is a small, 1-by-2.5-inch LCD panel for menu selections, current operations, and messages in black text and icons on a backlit field of glowing orange light. To the right of the LCD, an alarm LED flashes and lights up green to signal paper jams or improperly installed ink cartridges; shrill beeps accompany the alarm, though you can turn the volume down or off through the control panel.

Mode buttons above the LCD indicate copy, fax, scan and photo functions. As with other multifunctions, these come in handy for using the MP780 without a PC. When you choose Photo, for example, the menu flashes the message Direct Photo, then tells you to connect your PictBridge-compatible digital camera to the printer.

At the base of the MP780, you touch the small, round button to smoothly open the front cover and turn it into the paper output tray. If you start to print or copy without opening the output tray, don't worry: the MP780 will open it for you before the print job arrives. Just underneath the MP780's control panel, you can tug a grey Scanning Unit Lever tab to lift up the scanner and the ADF, reveal the machine's innards, and access the printhead and the five ink cartridges.

Features
Like any modern all-in-one worthy of its title, the Canon Pixma MP780 serves as a standalone copier, photo printer, scanner, and fax machine. Connected to a PC or a Mac, the MP780 adds full service, automatic double-sided colour printing to its repertoire. Only the HP OfficeJet 7410 includes a duplexer -- but of course it costs more.

Two features the Canon MP780 lacks are built-in media-card readers and a network card. If you want to print photos without your computer, make sure your digital camera features PictBridge capability. However, when you plug your camera into the MP780, your photos show up on the display of your camera, unlike their appearance on the full-colour LCD screens of printers such as the Lexmark P6250.

One of the Canon MP780's nicest features is its five separate ink tanks to handle all printing types, so there's no need to stop and swap cartridges when you're alternating between, say, printing a memo and a snapshot. The cyan, magenta, yellow, and large-size black cartridges contain pigment-based inks for text and graphics, while the fifth cartridge holds a dye-based ink that kicks in when you print photographs.

The MP780's letter-size flatbed scans at 2,400x4,800dpi in black and white or colour -- good resolution for your photo projects. The software includes ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR (optical character recognition) for scanning, Easy-Photo Print and ArcSoft PhotoStudio for photo printing and image editing, PrestoPage Manager's document management (PC only), and Canon's own MP Navigator scanning tools.

The MP780's full fax machine is powered by a 33.6Kbps fax modem, and it lets you store eight one-touch fax or phone numbers, plus 80 more precoded dials, on the control panel. Few devices in this price range allow such comprehensive faxing.

Performance
Speed
The Canon Pixma MP780's speeds outperformed those of most low-cost machines in its class, such as the Lexmark P6250, and its scans were quicker than those of the pricier HP Photosmart 2710. Photo speeds were notably zippy, even beating the doubly expensive HP OfficeJet 7410. If you don't have time or money to waste, the MP780 should suit your all-in-one speed needs.

Quality
The Canon Pixma MP780's test prints of text on coated inkjet paper were good; letters were dark black.

Colour graphics on Canon's inkjet paper were excellent with great gradients, good colour matching, and notable attention to detail. The MP780 also did a good job printing photos on Canon's glossy photo paper. Flesh tones appeared realistic, with well-rendered subtleties in hue. This printer reproduced fine details adequately, though unspectacularly, and with visible graininess.

Colour and greyscale scans produced by the MP780 were good but far from great; our test colour scan suffered from dull colours, washed-out flesh tones, and hazy bits of text. And the grayscale scan was so bright that the light areas of the gradient disappeared entirely, while details in the dark areas were obscured.

NOTE: Products in this test are for comparative purposes only and are not necessarily available in the Australian market.

Service and support
The Canon Pixma MP780 comes with a printed, 45-page quick-start guide, a detailed user guide with lots of troubleshooting tips, and two well-laid-out CD-ROM software guides. One CD guide is a photo application manual that shows you how to make the most of Canon's Easy-Photo Print software, with tips such as how to manually sharpen or smooth faces, remove red-eye, and erase blemishes. The other software guide explores the ins and outs of the MP780's printing, scanning, and faxing tools.

For more assistance, you can visit Canon's Web site to read FAQs and troubleshoot problems via the topic lists.