Panoramic Camera Made From a Flatbed Scanner!

Last December I posted a note about the Panoscan digital panoramic camera and Mr. Sharpless was kind enough to make a comment about how he had built a few cameras that did pretty much the same thing but at a far lower price. Well I asked if he had a web site and I just got a reply saying that he was inspired to put a site up about his creations.
Thank you!!!

My “ScanCams” are panoramic cameras made from old flatbed document scanners and photographic lenses. They take images one vertical line at a time while rotating under control of the scanner’s electronics and drive motor. An attached laptop computer decodes the scan data and records formatted image files, using software I developed.
This kind of camera can have very high resolution and can make very wide images – up to 360 degrees or even more. The vertical field of view, and hence the angular resolution, depends on the lens focal length and the length of the linear image sensor.

I’m used to using a swing lens camera, I use a Russian Horizon 202pretty often, so the ‘limitations’ of such a camera are familiar to me. I don’t have a problem with the whole moving lens thing, it can make for some cool effects.

On the right is my second ScanCam, and the only one currently operational. Its CCD is 42mm long — the length of the diagonal of a 35mm film frame – and it uses Pentax screw mount SLR camera lenses. The sensor has 10,600 pixels, giving an effective resolution of 49 megapixels over the 35mm frame. I usually scan at one-half, one-third or one-quarter of the maximum resolution – roughly 12, 5 or 3 megapixels per frame.

GHAA… 49 megapixels per 35mm frame? Oh yeah… I am eyeing the screws in my HP 7400c scanner even as I type this…
So have a look at his site and go out and build one yourself! Make some art, why don’t ya… 🙂

TKS Digital Scanning Panoramic Camera
panoramic, photography, scanner, cool, digital, DIY