My sister's eyes are going and she has trouble reading small news print. There is a device that scans print with a camera and lets you pan with software. This isn't a scanner, it is a device with the camera head raised about a foot above a platen where you place your reading material. Magazines, newspapers or whatever. They start at $3,500. Like nearly all assitive devices for the disabled, it is priced stupidly high.

I'm thinking a fine dot pitch 17"~19" flat panel monitor for under $180, a 5 megapixle camera for under $130, and a cheap cast off computer to tie it all together.

I have lots of this and that to make a text platform and camera boom, but have two questions.

How do I make a digital camera talk in real time like a web cam? All seem to be set up to only download the stored images, not feed what it is seeing at the moment.

Are there any programs in freeware, or shareware, or cheap that would allow digital panning? Cheap and easy would be to just move the material, but a few bells and whistles would be nice. My target price is all done for under $500. Hardware and software.

Any ideas tips and comments are appreciated. I have a second sister with the same problem that will need one in a year or so. My plan is to do a JGRO type of build so others in need can access and build for themselves.

Thanks

My Canon SD700is came with some "remote control" software that alows you to control camera from computer including zoom. But I would look for someone who knows Visual Basic and write a quick simple program dedicated for specifical use, for someone that knows VB that would take 2-3 hours to write, you dont need fancy interface, just few simple buttons...

Or accualy another idea, they have those 17-19" monitors/tvs now, you just just use the output from camera straight into tv and have mechanical zoom(bring camera up and down).