PictBridge Compatible Scanner

Have you considered an MFP that scans and prints ? there are some excellent units out there for under $200, some as low as $100

Fred Wagner

an even simpler solution is a tripod setup that lets your digital camera shoot straight down onto an item to be 'scanned' - take a hi-res picture of it, and let the camera give it to the printer directly. By using your camera, and carefully orienting it to prevent trapezoiding the image, you can 'scan' up to wall size documents.... People are 'depositing' checks by taking pictures of them with their smartphones now....

Fred Wagner

I don't want another all-in-one. Primarily, because I'd need one a little more heavy duty than anything you can get for $100-200 (more like $700-1000). Secondly, having 2 separate units would allow me to replace one piece when it breaks down instead of having to replace the whole thing (which is the process I am currently working through). I did actually consider the camera/tripod idea, but that's not really a simple solution considering the other people who need access to this.

I just 'binged' the term pictbridge paired with Printer and Scanner... Pictbridge is a standard designed to allow digital cameras to print directly from the chip without using a PC. Lots of home and SoHo type printers and MFP's include pictbridge. If you want a scanner for documents, particularly with a sheet feeder, you'll need a 'real' scanner, and it will either be designed to interface directly with a PC (new ones are all USB, older ones were SCSI and variants of it), or it will be business class MFP that will scan and email you the results.
We have three of the networked MFP's on our floor, and they get heavy use. You can print directly to them, use them as a copier, or scan and have the results in your email inbox.
Scanning and document capture is a large part of what I do. I have access to dedicated scanners, but I use the scan-to-email feature of our MFD's a lot! Scanning to print uses a dedicated device called a copier!

Fred Wagner

What you're trying to do might be possible - some camera-friendly printers and MFP's might have a USB input port, where you could attach a USB camera.(that's how the cameras were a number of years ago) you might be able to get a USB scanner to talk to that port. It's unlikely, but it might be possible. The problem will be the USB gender. A USB scanner connects with the square end in the scanner, and the flat end in the PC. A USB printer also has the Square end input, for a cable with the flat end in the PC. For the Scanner to Printer via USB to work, the printer will have to be equipped to take a USB cable from a camera, and it's a long shot if the scanner would accept that configuration.

Fred Wagner