Re: flatbed scanhead in rotating camera

[ADavidhazy <ANDPPH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Has anyone out there tried fitting the moving scanning bar from a flat bed
scanner into a rotating camera? I have a #8 Cirkut camera and talking with a
friend who is into all this computer stuff, it would be the ideal camera to do
it to. Fit a 600 dpi bar behind the slot, hook up a laptop, rotate the camera
and download the file (probably 300mb) and print 12 inches wide times eight
feet long on an Epson photo printer.
                               
Clayton,

I have (and others before me also) done something similar to this. In my case I
took the linear array out of a small hand scanner and installed it in a channel
I attached to the back of a 35mm camera. Keeping the camera still and pulling
the array across the image plane gives you the equivalent of a still camera
fitted with a slow moving focal plane shutter. Keeping the array still and
rotating the camera gives you panoramic photographs and keeping camera still
and rotating the subject gives you peripheral or "rollout" records. 

Got a pair of little articles at:
http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/text-demo-scanner-cam.html
http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/text-better-scanner-cam.html

Generally, however, you need to keep in mind the aspect ratio for which the
scanner is set up. Most would be something like 9x12 inches so not quite the
1:8 aspect ratio that you are hoping for. Whiule you could cut down on the
height keeping the length the same and that would improve the aspect ratio,
this generally means loss of "pixels" or information in one direction.

A more interesting solution would be to "massage" the hardware or software in
such a manner that it does not stop recording data and continuously spews out
image info ... of course, a 1G or more file then would be the problem of the
computer.

great fun but now what's next??

Andrew  o o  0 0 o . o  Davidhazy, Imaging and Photo Tech
         \/\/\/\/\/\/          http://www.rit.edu/~andpph
__________|        |_____________________________________