Imaging Beyond the Pinhole Camera

The camera obscura, the basic projection model for pinhole cameras, was known in China more than 2500 years ago. The world's first photograph was taken in 1826 using a pinhole camera - a camera obscura fitted with a plate of photo-sensitive coated glass. All cameras since this first photograph follow the basic pinhole camera principle.

This book traces progress in photography, such as optical lenses and silver-based film, the latter replaced today by digital technologies. The authors review the design innovations such as photogrammetry, image data streams created by capturing images line by line, and omnidirectional vision for robotic navigation. The text shows how alternative camera architectures create a need to understand related projective geometries for the purpose of camera calibration, binocular stereo, static or dynamic scene understanding. The text also explores applications of alternative camera architectures.

Written by leading researchers in the field, this book elucidates on these topics as well as some of the applications of alternative camera architectures.