IR/UV Scanning: Imbedded Light Sources No longer?

[univurshul]

I just went over this video about a i2sCopiBook that scans without an embedded light source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNlp_tN1 ... re=related . Granted this thing is super slow and ginormous, it does make me wonder why cameras don't have a features that capture images with IR/UV technology via ambient light in the room or area.

Another--slightly off topic--yet interesting thing about IR/UV scanners is there capability of locating oil on the surface of the ocean: http://www.optimare.de/cms/en/divisions ... anner.html

The question has been posed: why can't we capture/scan with simple ambient light as the source and achieve true reproduction like this i2sCopibook?