Geometric model of image formation in Scheimpflug cameras

Electrical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.1887v1
Subject Areas
Computer Vision, Theory and Formal Methods
Keywords
Non-frontal camera, Scheimpflug camera, Image formation model
Copyright
© 2016 Sinharoy et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Sinharoy I, Rangarajan P, Christensen MP. 2016. Geometric model of image formation in Scheimpflug cameras. PeerJ Preprints 4:e1887v1

Abstract

We present a geometric model of image formation in Scheimpflug cameras that is most general. Scheimpflug imaging is commonly used is scientific and medical imaging either to increase the depth of field of the imager or to focus on tilted object surfaces. Existing Scheimpflug imaging models do not take into account the effect of pupil magnification (i.e. the ratio of the exit pupil diameter to the entrance pupil diameter), which we have found to affect the type of distortions experienced by the image-field upon lens rotations. In this work, we have also derived the relationship between the object, lens and sensor planes in Scheimpflug configuration, which is very similar in form with the standard Gaussian imaging equation, but applicable for imaging systems in which the lens plane and the sensor plane are arbitrarily oriented with respect to each other. Since the conventional rigid camera, in which the sensor and lens planes are constrained to be parallel to each other, is a special case of the Scheimpflug camera, our model also applies to imaging with conventional cameras.

Author Comment

This manuscript contains a new geometric imaging model for Scheimpflug cameras. A version of this manuscript will eventually be submitted to an OSA journal. However, the manuscript contains the complete derivation of the model, and it will serve as a reference to other articles/papers that use this model.