This technique probably goes back to the earliest days of flatbed scanners and was mentioned on the photo-3D mail list by Bob Wier on December 14, 1995, though he makes vague reference to earlier experiments by others. Though it could be described as a trivial application of a centuries-old technique to a new device, the concept is not widely known, even among stereo photography enthusiasts. This may be due to the common misconception that the typical flatbed scanner uses an imager that spans the width of the bed, thus leading to the assumption that shifting objects would not produce parallax.