Canon Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2181B002)

by Canon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 15.6 x 8.4 inches ; 35 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 35 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000V2TTJK
• Item model number: 2181B002
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (133 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Canon PIXMA MP970 Photo All-in-One Inkjet Printer lets you preview, scan, copy, and print photographs and documents with one easy machine. This all-in-one printer features a compact, streamlined design that can preview images in high resolution on its 3.5-inch TFT display, scan beautiful images with color resolutions up to 9600 by 2400 dpi, or print photos directly from memory cards, cameras, DV camcorders, or camera phones in seconds. The printer's Easy Scroll Wheel makes operation a breeze. The Auto-Image Fix feature ensures that every photo is clear and vivid--even when scanning difficult items such as thick notebooks or faded images--to result in stunning color resolutions up to 4800 by 9600 dpi. This PIXMA will even allows print or copy two-sided to save paper and space.

Just press the Power button and get to work, thanks to the printer's helpful Quick Start design. Copies come out crisper than ever with the system's Dual Color Gamut Processing Technology. Compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X 10.2.8 to 10.4.x8 operating systems, this printer comes backed by a 1-year limited manufacturer's warranty.

What's in the Box
Pixma MP970 photo all-in-one printer, cross sell sheet, easy setup instructions, quick start guide, setup software and user's guide CD-ROM, user's guide, PGI-5 black ink tank, CLI-8 (cyan/magenta/yellow) ink tank, power cord, print head, and sample media (8.5-by-11.5-inch sheets).

Product Description

print resolution: 600 x 600 dpi black; 9600 x 2400 dpi color * advanced 7-color ink system for accurate, lab-quality prints * text documents: up to 30 pages per minute in black; up to 22 pages per minute color * photos: borderless 4" x 6" prints in approximately 35 seconds * built-in two-sided printing * scan up to six frames of 35mm film or four mounted slides at a time * optical resolution: 4800 x 9600 dpi (19,200 x 19,200 dpi interpolated) * 48-bit color depth * copy speed for text documents: up to 30 pages per minute in black; up to 22 pages per minute color * reduction/enlargement: 25-400% * Ethernet port for connecting multiple users in a computer network * 3-1/2" color LCD screen * built-in card reader accepts most types of memory cards * direct photo printing with PictBridge-compliant cameras * dual paper tray * Quick Start function * 7 individually replaceable ink tanks * 1-picoliter sized ink droplets for detailed, grain-free photos * ChromaLife 100 inks for long-lasting photos * Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) 3,584-nozzle print head * paper sizes: letter (8-1/2" x 11"), credit card (2-1/8" x 3-3/8"), 4" x 6", 4" x 8", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", U.S. #10 envelopes * high-speed USB interface *

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Performer in OS X Tiger, Leopard, and Windows XP, March 11, 2008

By 

W. Williamson "wwilliamson" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2181B002) (Office Product)

I am an amateur photographer and a professional Software Engineer. I purchased this printer as a general purpose printer and as a low cost photo printer. My home network which consists of 5 Windows XP computers and 1 Mac OS X computer (mine). I connected the printer to my network using the built in ethernet port. All of the testing I performed was over the network and I never tried the USB port. The printer does everything it advertises and does it well. I tested printing, scanning, and card reader functionality using OS X Tiger, OS X Leopard, Windows XP, and the printer worked flawlessly regardless of the OS I was using. You just need to make sure that you download and install the latest and greatest driver for the particular OS you are using. I also tried scanning directly using Photoshop CS3 on OS X Leopard and everything worked perfect.

One of the reasons I purchased the MP970 was for low cost photo printing. I also own an Epson R2400 which is a semi-professional dedicated photo printer. The R2400 is expensive to purchase, and expensive to operate. I was curious how the MP970 photo quality would compare to the R2400 so I directly compared photos printed on the Canon MP970 to the same photos printed on the Epson R2400. The Canon MP970 prints great pictures, but it is simply does not produce the same quality pictures as the R2400. I printed pictures from Photoshop in a color managed environment using Ilford Smooth Pearl Photo Paper and compared the R2400 to the MP970. The Canon MP970 did very well but Epson R2400 was definitely the winner - which was the expected result. The Epson had better highlights, better shadows, and more neutral mid tones. Notwithstanding, the MP970 produced very respectable prints which would be acceptable in all but the most demanding applications. The bottom line is that if you are really serious about excellent photo quality, this is not the printer for you. If you want a low cost way to produce very respectable prints, this printer is definitely for you. I feel that the Canon MP970 fully meets or exceeds my quality expectations for a low cost photo printer. And, as an added bonus, the MP970 is way cheaper to operate than my R2400 because it uses a lot less ink. As an example of how I use it, it's a lot more cost effective to print 25 Christmas cards on my MP970 than it is to print the same 25 cards on the R2400.

I only gave the printer 4 stars because it powers itself off every 2 to 4 days for no reason. Canon technical support confirmed that the printer should not power itself off and sent me a new replacement printer under warranty. Unfortunately, the replacement printer also powers itself off for no reason. I tried several different electrical outlets in my office and it did not fix the problem. Also, no other devices in my office power themselves off. This review has been here for a while now and several people posted comments and said that their MP970 printers also intermittently power off.

Update on Intermittent Power off Issue:
After about 9 months of operation, I ended up moving the printer from my office to my Son's room (for unrelated reasons). For unexplained reasons, the printer stopped intermittently powering itself off after I moved it to my Son's room. The printer has been in my Son's room for roughly 3 months now and it has not powered itself off once. Weird.

I have had the printer for roughly 1 year and I have not had any problems except for the power issue mentioned above.

Here is what the printer does:
- Double sided printing
- Ethernet connectivity
- USB Connectivity
- Initiate a scan from the printer or the computer
- Scan to the disk on your computer, scan to email, scan to PDF
- Copy
- Read camera memory cards. Access the cards via network or USB
- Scanner is compatible with Photoshop CS3 on OS X
- Compatible with OS X Tiger, OS X Leopard, Windows XP, Windows Vista
- 2 paper trays: Cassette in the bottom, open paper tray in the rear
- Will make borderless photo prints

Here is what the printer does not do:
- Does not fax
- Does not have an auto document feeder for the scanner
- Canon does not supply Linux drivers, but I have heard that Linux drivers may be available from other sources (see comments made by others about this review for more information).
- Wireless Ethernet is not directly supported. This printer connects to your network with an Ethernet cable.

97 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top of the line model of Canon's new printer line-up (late Sept. 2007 release), October 1, 2007

By 

QuickDraw (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2181B002) (Office Product)

I always owned HP printers (except for 1 Epson). The last generation Canon printers (MP810,MP830, MP960 etc.) always got great reviews on print quality/speed, but no networking. I was NOT happy with the HP printers of the same generation because of the reviews (mediocre print quality). I still favored HP because they have been good printers for me. I wanted to network my printer on my home network (3 wired PC's, 2 wireless laptops). I had my HP printer shared, but one PC has to remain on for the others to print. I was waiting for new models to come out. Finally they are here from HP, Canon, and Lexmark etc.). I first looked at the new HP printers and seen the same small expensive ink tanks and nothing looked better except for wireless. I even looked at Lexmark's new line. I wanted something nicer. Then, I saw the Canon MP970. Outstanding print/scanner spec's, 35mm film and slide scanning, Pict Bridge, etc.
I bought one and have been using it. I have it networked to all PC's and it could not have been easier. I put in the CDROM followed the on screen instructions. Installation went without a hitch. I have printed/scanned from my wired/wireless PC's. Everything works fast and reliable. The quality of text seems laser quality and the photo's look lab quality. This is my first Canon printer and I am very happy with it.

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Direct CD/DVD printing, December 23, 2007

By 

sparky (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2181B002) (Office Product)

For those who purchase this in North America, you may like to know that this can print directly onto CDs/DVDs. It's one of the standard features, but Canon disabled this feature for US customers due to a patent, but if you do a quick google search for "Canon five easy steps" you can find out how to easily enable this great feature (in five easy steps!).