DIY Book Scanner

Hi everyone. I'd like to locate two camera options for the hackerspace scanner.

I'll keep this post updated with the current best options - when we find them.

For those people who are building the new scanner - what cameras are you using? How are they working for you?

For those people who have invested time into this question in the past - any thoughts on current models?

Below is an editable ranking of the best accompanying cameras for the Hackerspace Build. Please help us improve it!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... nZrR0tUemc

I have bought now canon SX130 IS, we have installed CHDK and it seems to be working, but we are going to make further tests when we finish the part of building the scanners.

I'll dig out a copy of my camera spreadsheet and fill in some entries on Monday. (I needed the kick in the butt to get that up to date again!)

When I did some searching earlier this spring the PowerShot A800 was the cheapest CHDK-supported 10 Megapixel that I could find widely available in retail.

edit: I now see that there is CHDK progress on the 14 megapixel A2200, which is close in price to A800. If the beta for it works, or is soon made to work, then it could be a better deal than the A800.
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/A2200
http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php?to ... 2#msg84832

Dodd Camera in Cleveland has several dozen refurbished Canon Powershot SD780IS's on sale this week for $99.99 with a 3-year warranty. Camera has 12.1 megapixels & is CHDK-compliant. http://doddcamera.com/ I bought 2 today.

great tip, Tresho. Can you please let us know how they work for you?

dtic, I saw another project (I think kite aerial photography) offering the A2200 for sale. It's recent and cheap enough that I am seriously thinking about calling it a standard. If anyone here can help evaluate it, or has experience, I'd love to know. I'll probably buy one for testing pretty soon.

I evaluated the Sony DSC-WX10 (16 MP) and it basically sucks. I just couldn't get it to focus well over the entire page, even with the aperture closed, which should give the most focal range. And it wouldn't focus on smaller books at all. Fuck you very much, Sony.

My Canon SD1100 IS (8 MP) works great in the same book scanner. It's cheaper, too.

I added these two cameras to the camera doc.

One of the things I have noticed about all these small point-and-shoot cameras is that they are slow to respond, and even slower to return to the "ready" state. The CNET review of the Canon A2200 says the same thing ... slow. (and basic)

I have the Sony W570 which is a 16MP and takes good pictures, but it is basically unusable in any kind of dynamic situation. You almost never get the picture you want if things are moving ... or in the scanner case you'd simply want it to be ready to take the next picture when YOU want to, and not when IT lets you.

I've used the SD780IS,handheld, to copy pages from bound materials as fast as I could turn them. No problem with speed of response. How fast can you take individual pages in a book scanner so that a "slow" response could be noticed?