New Approach for Calibrating Off-the-shelf Digital Cameras

Recent developments of digital cameras in terms of size of Charged Coupled Device (CCD) arrays and reduced costs are leading to their applications to traditional as well as new photogrammetric surveying and mapping functions. Digital cameras, intended to replace conventional film based mapping cameras, are becoming available along with many smaller format digital cameras capable of precise measurement applications. All such cameras will require careful assessment to determine their metric characteristics, which are essential to carry out photogrammetric activities. This paper introduces a new approach for incorporating straight lines in bundle adjustment for calibrating off-the-shelf digital cameras. The optimal configuration for successfully deriving the distortion parameters is considered when establishing the required test field. The developed calibration procedure can be used as an effective tool for investigating the most appropriate model that compensates for various distortions associated with the camera being calibrated. Performed experiments to compare line-based with traditional point-based self-calibration methods proved the feasibility of the suggested approach.