I wish there was a good, cheap, fully programmable / hackable camera. There is a lot of digital capture work that I need to do, that requires a fully controllab

I wish there was a good, cheap, fully programmable / hackable camera. There is a lot of digital capture work that I need to do, that requires a fully controllable camera. For example, I want to build a faster photocopier, using a camera frame, dual camera setup, real-time Image processing unit and a fast laser printer. However, almost all the cameras in the market are either feature deficit (point and shoot cameras that use CHDK, etc) or are in-accessible to me. I would love to use a Nikon DSLR, completely control it, grab pictures in real-time, process and print them. Sadly, no such options now. A decent photocopier costs about 130,000 in India. A Nikon D3000 or equivalent, with an 18-55 lens costs about 30,000. A decent laser printer costs about 14,000. A DIY frame, about 10,000. So with an overall cost of about 60,000 I can build myself a much better and faster photo copier.