Abstract: A handheld apparatus for contactless acquisition of a fingerprint image is disclosed. One such apparatus includes an enclosure and at least three digital image capture devices housed within the enclosure and arranged along an arc. The enclosure includes a hollow finger receiving area, sized and shaped to receive a finger. Each of the digital image capture devices is positioned along the arc at substantially a same distance from the finger receiving area and positioned along the arc to have a respective optical axis that lies at about 45° to another of the digital image capture devices. The optical axes intersect within the enclosure. Each digital image capture device is operable to acquire a partial fingerprint image of the finger in a contactless manner. Each partial fingerprint image corresponds to a different side of the finger. The acquired fingerprint images combine to produce a nail-to-nail fingerprint image.