I think that photo based scanners have existed before. I haven't really read this too deeply but it doesn't seem novel. In fact, hasn't auto desk incorporated that into their latest 123d suite?
Disclaimer, i rep these scanners... but 3rivers 3d scanners can scan small objects like jewelry with excellent results. In fact they recently inproved their macro scanning capabilities with a new unit.
Here are a few samples of small scans performed with their standard unit.
http://www.3rivers3d.com/gallery6.html
I can try to get some new images as well. Seems to me that i have some images of circuit scans somewhere...
By the way, I have always been a fan of the davidscanners as others have suggested.