What to do with an old printer scanner. New life for an old scanner. How do I imagine it

An article about how to make a homemade camera from an old flatbed scanner.

There is an article on the Wired.com website describing how to make an ordinary Canon scanner at home digital camera. The guy says (and shows the process in photos) that having made such a camera in the end he got not quite what he expected - an ugly smeared glare of light on a black background, instead of a photograph (pictured below).

Brief principles of manufacturing and operation of such a camera.

Principle of operation.

The camera works just like any other camera. The lens projects an image onto a photosensitive element. You can find tons of information on this topic. In this version, there is one difference - the role of a photosensitive element is played by a conventional flatbed scanner. The simplest and super-cheap camera, as it turned out, is assembled from black foam board, a cardboard tube, a plastic lens, and actually any scanner.

But this option is not ideal - it has a lot of disadvantages expressed in a small viewing angle, fixed focus, poor depth of field and all the disadvantages associated with an unmodified scanner (for good results, the scanner needs to be modified).

Shot from such a super-cheap camera.

How to improve quality.

Alternatively, you can buy and modify an ancient camera from the 30s, turning it into a wild hybrid of old and modern technology.

Such a camera is said to differ dramatically in its quality in better side from more primitive options.

"Digital camera" that you can never buy in "Eldorado" :)

A picture from such a hybrid is much better than from a primitive version.

You can get these cameras much easier than junk from the 30s. The cameras hardly need to be modified, they are the most in a simple way turn into a digital camera :)

Shot from such a camera type "brownie".

Modern scanner-photo-camera construction.

A video showing the creation of a homemade camera.

About how the scanner sees time.

The flatbed scanner does not immediately capture the whole picture of the scene. The scanner receives the image by reading it line by line. To scan one photo, you usually spend from 15 seconds to 5 minutes, this time depends on the selected resolution. Each line of the image is obtained by the scanner in a matter of milliseconds.

Here's an example that makes it even easier to understand. For example, we need to scan an image that is a square image of 15,000 pixels in width (respectively, the image contains only 225,000,000 pixels). Scanning takes 90 seconds. Each line of the image is read one after the other, approximately 6 milliseconds each. This happens 15,000 times as the scanner head moves from the beginning of the picture to the end. But while the scanner is reading the image, it can move. Thus, the object can move, and the scanner, leaving the previously captured image of the object, will continue to capture its new position (moreover, every 6 milliseconds).

The picture shows how the scanner sees the scene at each interval of scanning time.

And here is the picture that is obtained at the end of the scan.

Such an effect is simply impossible to create using traditional tools. In principle, this can be done using a conventional video camera (the image will consist of about 750 lines and will be of low resolution), but the image will not even be close to being "scanned".

How about color?

The main question that is asked on the topic “camera from a scanner” is “where did the colors go, and why are all the photos only black and white?”. The answer to this question is related to the very procedure for capturing a color image by a scanner. In order to capture a color image, the scanner divides the image into three channels - red, green and blue, these channels are obtained by illuminating the image with a lamp, the scanner captures each line of each channel separately using a light-sensitive sensor that perceives only shades of gray, and then combines these three channels into one color image. The camera assembled from the scanner does not use this lamp, it uses the light projected by the lens, respectively, all three channels are identical and the final image is black and white (grayscale). There is an exception, though, when the camera scans a scene in which colors change faster than the scan occurs, this refers to the rapid refresh of a television or monitor screen, resulting in a sort of color splash on a black and white image.

The color flash in this picture was created by high speed computer monitor screen refresh. The display changes colors faster than the scanner can read the line of the image, so the monitor ripples with colors.

Photo gallery.

The pictures shown here were taken mainly with such a scanner camera:

This camera is based on the Canon Lide 20 scanner using a CIS sensor. The maximum resolution of this camera is 115,200,000 pixels per shot, which is equivalent to 115.2 megapixels. :)

Here Reanna Walker turned out to be unusual, pay attention to her eyes - she blinked during the scanning process (ugh, photographing :)).

Concert from the point of view of a scanner camera.

Christian Nold yawns most of the picture :)

Cars passing on the road behind the bus stop.

Notting Hill.

Shot from the roof of the Royal College of Art, showing the movement of traffic below.

An enlarged part of the image showing how moving cars are distorted.

Another picture from the same roof, cars traveling at a higher speed are more distorted in the picture.

The bus is the best in the picture :)

The camera gave the double-decker bus an almost architectural form.

Three shots from the college art studio.

The girl in the picture turned out with two faces. The photo was pre-directed.

Your scanner does not work with the latest version operating system? Do not rush to the store for a new one: CHIP will offer a universal free solution for any device. CHIP will show you how to use VueScan to use an outdated scanner to work with the new OS Problems with using outdated scanners are often associated with the lack of the latest versions of the appropriate drivers both in Windows and from manufacturers. However, in most cases, the resolution and quality of such devices is still quite acceptable. Of course, you can create a second virtual OS and run scans from there, but VueScan offers a more practical solution. Free basic version of this software with limited functionality allows you to return to service old scanner for use when needed. At the same time, even the standard and professional versions of this utility, which cost about 1200 and 2500 rubles, respectively, with additional professional features, such as calibration, will cost you less than a new scanner from a well-known brand.

In any case, it's worth trying. First, make sure the VueScan app supports your scanner model. The list of devices can be found on the program website (short link: b23.ru/hc4t). The model-specific page contains information about supported features and functions. There is even a link to download the latest version of the program. Because there are often minor fixes, we recommend downloading VueScan directly from hamrick.com/#download. The difference in versions will be noticeable later, depending on whether you have a license key. You can buy the program at any time, however, all described below
actions are also available in the basic version.

VueScan will automatically recognize a running scanner and use the provided driver. If the device is not yet functioning, press the key combination "Win + Pause" and launch the Device Manager. In it, find your scanner under the Imaging Devices category. Right-click on it and run the Update Drivers command. Now you need to select the option "Search for drivers on this computer". Set the location to "C:VueScan" and click on "Next". You can even replace the driver this way: first uninstall the old one, restart Windows and connect the VueScan driver.

At stages 2 and 3 in step by step guide Below you will see how easy and fast it is to scan in VueScan with a custom procedure. The created files of decent quality will not contain watermarks. In addition, the program will allow you to select the resolution of the scanned image, the type (extension) of the saved file, and also set the white balance in advance. You can also manually tweak the colors by evaluating them in detail on the Curves Histogram to improve color reproduction right away. In addition, later you can adjust the brightness, contrast and colors in the graphics editor.

How to do it?

1 NEW DRIVER VueScan works with thousands of even outdated scanner models, using its own drivers if necessary, and allows you to get results in a few clicks thanks to standard options. The program interface is completely localized.

2 QUICK START Select "Scan to File" in the "Task" item, set the "Media" - for example, "Image" - and the quality of the scan (the types "For editing" and "For archive" have highest quality). The "For Print" option will result in JPEG files, while the "For Editing" quality will produce TIFF images.

3 FLEXIBLE FRAME In view mode, you can set on the "Crop" tab for the frame auto mode using multiple default formats or manual - "User Installation".

4 ADVANCED CUSTOMIZATION Click the "More" button in the bottom menu. You will have additional options for scanning settings.

And, and even other agricultural waste.

It turns out that, as an option, you can get free electricity from the engine of an unnecessary scanner. We will talk about how to make a wind generator from a stepper motor in this article.

Here, the most interesting is the way the blades are made. Below is a guide that will help you "recycle" an old scanner into an impressive electricity generator. We will need:

Old scanner;
Rectifier diodes (8 1N4007 diodes were used in the project);
Capacitor 1000uF;
Stabilizer LM7805;
PVC pipe;
Plastic parts (see below);
Aluminum plates (you can use any others).

In addition to the fluorescent tube and electronic components, the scanner has a stepper motor, which is what we need. The photo shows a four-phase stepper motor.

Now that we have all the necessary components, we can start assembling the rectifier.

For each phase, we need 2 diodes, i.e. only 8 diodes. The output voltage will be hard-stabilized using the LM7805 IC and a 1000uF capacitor.

This generator can freely generate voltages of more than 5 volts, however, as part of this project, 5 volts was enough to charge mobile devices.

USB charging requires two 15 kΩ resistors on both data buses. See the USB bus specification for technical details.

Collecting blades.

It's all!

Now it remains to wait for a windy day and try out the device, as you can see in the photo - the device generates a stable voltage of 4.95 V.

Thus, now you can charge your MP3 player or phone for free.

People most often throw away something that could still be used, albeit not for its intended purpose. Sometimes it is bitter to see how completely functional things are carried to the trash.

One example of manufacturing is assembling a lamp from an old scanner with your own hands.

For the manufacture of a homemade lamp, an old Mustek 6000p scanner was used, it was relevant back in the days of Windows 95, the scanner requires realtime access and therefore in modern systems terribly slow, spending 4-5 minutes scanning a page.

This is what the scanner has inside, well, except for the scanning element feed motor.

The illuminator from the scanning carriage is a conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), similar to those used in LCD backlighting.

Carriage payment. The high-voltage inverter is visible on the left side, which is used to power the scanner lamp.

In the left corner is the integral stabilizer 7812, designated as Q8, it is easy to understand from which tracks the inverter receives power. At its input, when the scanner is turned on, there is about 14 volts, but the lamp does not light up, how to start it? There are not so many tracks leading to the board with the inverter from the connector that connects the carriage board to the main board, so let's assume that the key that starts the lamp is assembled on transistor Q5.

We close the resistor R3 connected to the base of the transistor with tweezers to + power, and ... let there be light!

Having figured out what's what, cut off all unnecessary, solder the jumper resistor between R3 and the power supply ...

... and pins for the printer's native power connector.

We get such a neat inverter board, we check again.

Of course, this is not enough to illuminate the workplace, but you can make a backlight in some drawer like a lamp in a refrigerator. As a body donor, an equally elderly mouse, the same age as the scanner, was a good fit. The switch will be a reed switch with normally closed contacts.

Assembled. It is a pity that the buttons do not carry any functional load =)

We fix the lamp and the body with double-sided tape. On the door - a magnet from the hard drive on the same adhesive tape. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but it does the job.

More than enough to light up a small space

From good people I got my hands on such a rather aged scanner, Mustek 6000p, a device from the times of Windows 95 and large white plastic cases. As a rarity, it is not of great value, but it is a pity to throw it away without looking inside).

Actually, all its electronic contents, the body goes to the trash.