3 second scanner...

[Sabre]

NY Times Article

After the launch of the unprinterlike Envy 100 e-All-in-One from Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark has engineered its own slick all-in-one printer. The coming Lexmark Genesis is unmistakably a printer, albeit a handsome one, but it has impressive new technology under the hood: a digital camera that can scan documents and photos in a whizzy three seconds.

Lexmark says its primary goal in designing the Genesis was to create an all-in-one inkjet (it prints, scans, copies and faxes) that can more quickly scan and copy documents. To do so, Lexmark replaced the traditional scanning mechanism with a 10-megapixel wide-angle digital camera.

This goes in the "why didn't I think of that" pile!

[complacent]

that's pretty damn cool!

i've got one of there current aiw devices and have been very pleased. the 100XL black cartridge is frigging amazing. we routinely get ~500 pages out of one tank, at $5.00 per cartridge.

my current favorite home printer manufacturer.

[Sabre]

i've got one of there current aiw devices and have been very pleased. the 100XL black cartridge is frigging amazing. we routinely get ~500 pages out of one tank, at $5.00 per cartridge.

Holy crap, that's amazing! I will definitely be keeping that one in mind!

[scheherazade]

I once had someone send me a document via iphone picture.

I was impressed with the quality. I can totally see how a 10mp camera can be used here.

I wonder about distortions, and if there's still a surface to press the document flat and to keep it at the right distance, etc.

-scheherazade

[Sabre]

I wonder about distortions, and if there's still a surface to press the document flat and to keep it at the right distance, etc.

Presumably, they have it pressed against a flat surface just like a normal scanner. The distortions can be taken care of by the use of a good lense.

[zaxrex]

I think it would be much easier to compensate for the parallax distortion in post process.
Designing a a fixed focus lens that would do it could only be used in that application. That in itself makes it mcuh more expensive.

[scheherazade]

Metric lenses are pretty common for fixed-zoom applications.
Which this would be.

So I would think that if you're gonna use a lens at all, it might as well be a metric lens...

-scheherazade