Need advice on "scanning" with a digital camera

[tuttlejr]

Do a search for "copy stand" an you should be able to come up with some ideas for a design. I have a TestRite copy stand but could not put a picture of it here.

[phi1l]

Me either -- Mine's a Rebel XT though. I'll have to see if there are any hacks for that one.

There is a modified firmware for the Rebel XT, but I'm not sure I would want to try it. with the CHDK for the powershots, the changes are an add on & load from an SD card when you turn on the camera go away when you turn off the camera.

[phi1l]

Do a search for "copy stand" an you should be able to come up with some ideas for a design. I have a TestRite copy stand but could not put a picture of it here.

I put together my system to photo small antiques & jewelry for an insurance inventory, but it works well for documents as well. I have also uses it for Ebay listings as well.

I just use my old cheapo (but sturdy) tripod. It has a 1/4x20 stud on the bottom of the center post, so I can take the head off the top of the post & put it on the bottom. I can set the camera distance from 0 to 4'. That in combination with the camera zoom & macro allow me to photo nearly anything (2 or 3 dimensional) I can get between the legs of the tripod. For non document items, I use a large neutral gray cutting mat with 1" grid for scale. Here at home, I set the whole thing up on a 3x3' piece of particle board on top of an old trunk that I have mounted on wheels. The display surface is 27" off the ground & I have 360deg access. If I have to, I can easily pack the whole thing up (except the trunk) & set it up on a pair of saw horses.

The Camera I use is a (now obsolete) Cannon S5 IS 8mp & 12x Zoom + macro. I control the camera operation using the Cannon ZoomBrowser EX software on my laptop connected to the camera with a USB cable. With this arrangement the pictures are stored directly onto the computer. You can also take bracketing photos for later processing by HDR software, if necessary.