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Canons Pixma MP560 is aimed at the enthusiast market, for people interested in photo printing from a all-in-one machine, rather than general copying. Because of this it is near the top of the range.
The PIXMA MP560 has the same faux-luxury look of most of the range, with silver sides and scanner lid plus black-coloured edging, back and control panel. The cover of the control panel hides it when the printer is not in use and when folded up reveals a 50mm LCD panel.
A comprehensive set of controls include soft buttons linked to the display and a click-wheel for scrolling through menu options. There are separate buttons for black and colour prints and one to stop the current job. In front are two indicator LEDs and a third labelled Wi-Fi, to indicate wireless activity .
There are two separate paper sources on the machine: a 150-sheet paper tray with a lift-up support at the back and a 150-sheet cassette, which slides in from the front. Canon recommends using the rear tray for photo blanks and the cassette for plain paper, but it’s possible to use either media in either tray.
There are three memory card sockets and a PictBridge socket so you can print directly from a USB drive .
On the rear of the PIXMA MP560 is a single USB socket, but there’s also wireless support. This includes quick setup protocols for the main fast-link systems, making secure wireless connection to most modern routers very simple .
The printer supports five ink cartridges, with a small photo black alongside the larger, standard black cartridge used for text print on plain paper. Each cartridge plugs into the print head and Canon’s system of LED indicators shows when the cartridges are properly inserted and when they’re low on ink.
The Canon ink cartridges are numbered PGI-520BK for the large black, and CLI-521 for black, cyan, magenta & yellow. Cartridges are only available in one size, but compatible ink cartridges are also available for this machine.
When it comes to print speeds, Canon has the decency to be a little nearer the truth with their quoted print speeds. Quoting 9.2ppm printing black and 6.0ppm in colour
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Our 5-page text print took 53 seconds, equivalent to just under 6 pages per minute and on the longer, 20-page document it still only increased to 7ppm. Our text and graphic document managed just over 3 ppm, only just over half the rated speed.
The print quality is up with what we’d demand from Canon and is good on both plain and photo papers. Black text is quite heavy on the page, but still manages a clean impression, so remains easy to read. Colours are also well reproduced and although there’s some obvious dither patterning in lighter shades, such as yellows, overall the result is clean and bright .
Our colour photocopy was slightly lighter than the original, but not bad at all . Our test photo, printed in the machine’s best photo mode, gave smooth colour gradations and plenty of detail in brighter areas of the image. However, colours were a little over-rich especially the reds, and some shadow detail was lost .
Verdict
A nice machine for the home office or small business .
