Automatic Camera Calibration in Close-range Photogrammetry

Automatic camera calibration via self-calibration with the aid of coded targets is now very much the norm in closerange photogrammetry. This is irrespective of whether the cameras to be calibrated are high-end metric, or the digital SLRs and consumer-grade models that are increasingly being employed for image-based 3D measurement. Automation has greatly simplified the calibration task, but there are real prospects that important camera calibration issues may be overlooked in what has become an almost black-box operation. This paper discusses the impact of a number of such issues, some of which relate to the functional model adopted for self-calibration, and others to practical aspects which need to be taken into account when pursuing optimal calibration accuracy and integrity. Issues discussed include interior orientation stability, calibration reliability, focal plane distortion, image point distribution, variation in lens distortion with image scale, colour imagery and chromatic aberration, and whether 3D object space control is warranted. By appreciating and accounting for these issues, users of automatic camera calibration will enhance the prospect of achieving an optimal recovery of scene-independent camera calibration parameters.