So we had much better luck with the scanner camera today. We're starting to get the hang of it, and we got some great photos today. Mostly I'm just going to post up some photos for you to check out. I am also going to link to a gallery on my website where you can check out hi-res versions of the images.
So first off, here's what we did to make it work: We discovered an old opaque projector we had from awhile back and hadn't used in ages. It was a kid's art tracing projector called The Tracer. We bought it at a garage sale for like $10 about 10 years ago. It uses just a very basic (probably plastic) lens that happens to come off (because you need to focus the image on the wall).
We also got a couple of new boxes. We haven't painted or felted the insides of the boxes, and it was super easy to fit them in. We used a Canon LIDE 35 scanner, and the boxes were 15x12x10 inches. We placed the scanner inside the box, affixing it with duct tape at first, but eventually velcro tabs (velcro can hold anything to anything -- no artist should be without it, but we had used up our supplies). We made an X hole for the USB wire and ran it out the computer. Of course, we removed the lid of the scanner.
The first box is pretty much intact, and we've left one side open. The scanner rests in it as described above. The second box is completed the same way, except we cut the flaps off the open side. On the closed side we cut a circular hole to insert the lens. Then we inserted the one box into the other. We can slide the boxes to adjust the focus, and so far we've determined that 11-13 inches is prett good for a distance of about 5-6 feet. Here's what it looks like:
So what do the photos look like? Well, check my gallery here (http://www.shawnrider.com/scannerCamera ) for the whole show. But here are a few for the Strip:
Just to prove that we can take normal pictures, here are me and Sarah in classid mode.
Here is an example of distortion over time. As the image was taken (as the scanner scanned) I was playing with three dogs, Janis, Dolly and Mickey. It was fun.
And here's an example of multiples -- you get this effect by quickly changing position partway through the scan one or two times. It's hard to get right, and when it happens it kind of makes a weird pop-out effect a lot of the time. Notice the dirty apron -- that's what happens when you USE an apron, gentlemen.
These give a decent idea of the kind of fun we're having with the cam. Aside from the cool old meets new aesthetic, it really does new things in representing time and motion. It's like a super slow exposure without the blur. Each instance is sampled discreetly from the preceeding and following moments, creating that banding you see in the image. The image is crisp at the instant it's recorded. The images are literally sets of very narrow images captured in sequence.
