Want to see what a cool quarter-mil will buy in the digital camera world?  Take a look at this- it's a large-format (48 x 72" scanning bed) Cruse Digital scanning camera, living at Parrot Digigraphic in Billerica, MA. 
 

Sure, sure, it's a big tri-linear CCD on a huge copy stand...  but the real secret to the scanner is the lights.  If you've ever shot copy work you know the issues- first, you want nice,even lighting, and most importantly, no glare.  That doesn't leave much room for control of lighting, or, least of all, creative lighting treatment.  The Cruse opens up a whole new world since it's sampling a very small slice of the original.  The lights are fully programmable and controllable, and you can treat an original for nice, flat, 100% even lighting, or you can use strong side-lighting to enhance the texture of the brush stroke, the collage, or whatever you're shooting.  (Models, perhaps?) 
 

Take a look, really cool stuff!