Best Camera for Photogrammetry: Hi All, Does anyone have any experience with photogrammetry? I am a part of an excavation and we are incorporating photogrammetry into this upcoming...

sewenner

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with photogrammetry? I am a part of an excavation and we are incorporating photogrammetry into this upcoming season. The main concern is finding an affordable camera with a large sensor, but since we haven't done this sort of work before, we are not sure what else might be recommended. Does anyone have any experience with this and any camera recommendations? I am leaning towards a Nikon because that is what I am most familiar with, but we are open to other brands. A Sony mirrorless is probably beyond our budget because we will need two of these.

Also, we think we need a fixed length lens between 18-55. I'm a little worried that there might be too much distortion with 18mm for this sort of work. Thoughts?

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

sewenner wrote:

Hi All, br br Does anyone have any experience wit... (show quote)

I use a Nikon D800 with Nikon 14mm f/2.8 AF-D. Great results. Welcome to the forum.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

sewenner wrote:

Hi All, br br Does anyone have any experience wit... (show quote)

You are working in an excavation, so how much room will you have to work with? are you modeling the whole site or small sections as uncovered? What is your budget including lens?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

As I think about this. A full frame EOS RP is only $1,299 including adapter. While it has limitations for other uses, they do not relate to what you are doing. It might be ideal for this application.

sewenner

We are only modeling our trenches, not the whole site, but will be doing this daily as we go down. Budget is a little bit flexible but I imagine that we are not in the Nikon 600/700 range but more like the Nikon 3500 range, if this makes sense.

sewenner

Why would you recommend the EOS RP?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

sewenner wrote:

Why would you recommend the EOS RP?

The OP put a stress on sensor size. The RP is the lowest priced ff camera on the market (new)

Though a used D600 can be had for around $600 as can some of the FF Sonys.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

sewenner wrote:

... Thoughts?

Isn't that something you'd want to use a Tilt-Shift lens for?

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

aflundi wrote:

Isn't that something you'd want to use a Tilt-Shift lens for?

I would think that would be the last thing you would use as it would introduce distortion which would work against photogrammetry purposes.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

JohnSwanda wrote:

I would think that would be the last thing you would use as it would introduce distortion which would work against photogrammetry purposes.

Why would a tilt-shift lens introduce distortion? They are built to have extremely flat, distortion-free optics, the shift is to prevent keystoning, and the tilt is to keep the plane-of-interest in focus. I don't get where you are coming from. I'm talking about a real tilt-shift lens BTW, not a lensbaby.

The only disadvantage I can see with a tilt-shift lens is that it's a slow process setting the shot up.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

aflundi wrote:

Why would a tilt-shift lens introduce distortion? They are built to have extremely flat, distortion-free optics, the shift is to prevent keystoning, and the tilt is to keep the plane-of-interest in focus. I don't get where you are coming from. I'm talking about a real tilt-shift lens BTW, not a lensbaby.

The only disadvantage I can see with a tilt-shift lens is that it's a slow process setting the shot up.

When you use the tilt or shift, you are actually distorting the photo. I wasn't familiar with photogrammetry, so I looked it up, and it is the science of making measurements from photographs. I would think any distortion would defeat that purpose.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

JohnSwanda wrote:

When you use the tilt or shift, you are actually distorting the photo. I wasn't familiar with photogrammetry, so I looked it up, and it is the science of making measurements from photographs. I would think any distortion would defeat that purpose.

Naptown Gaijin

JohnSwanda wrote:

When you use the tilt or shift, you are actually distorting the photo. I wasn't familiar with photogrammetry, so I looked it up, and it is the science of making measurements from photographs. I would think any distortion would defeat that purpose.

And you would be exactly correct. This is why you need a non adjustable focal length non shift tilt lens in taking any photo where mensuration is required. Remember, distortion is the enemy.

BebuLamar

So for the purpose the right lens is much more important than the sensor resolution or sensor size. Of course fewer pixels reduce the measurement precision but I do not think the achievable accuracy exceeds the resolution of most cameras. That is with higher resolution you do not necessarily get higher accuracy in your measurements.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

Naptown Gaijin wrote:

... This is why you need a non adjustable focal length non shift tilt lens in taking any photo where mensuration is required. Remember, distortion is the enemy.

Why? Tilt-shift lenses are designed and used to remove otherwise inevitable distortion, not add it.

What kind of distortion are you suggesting tilt-shift lenses add?