Lens distortion models evaluation

Abstract

Many lens distortion models exist with several variations, and each distortion model is calibrated by using a different technique. If someone wants to correct lens distortion, choosing the right model could represent a very difficult task. Calibration depends on the chosen model, and some methods have unstable results. Normally, the distortion model containing radial, tangential, and prism distortion is used, but it does not represent high distortion accurately. The aim of this paper is to compare different lens distortion models to define the one that obtains better results under some conditions and to explore if some model can represent high and low distortion adequately. Also, we propose a calibration technique to calibrate several models under stable conditions. Since performance is hard conditioned with the calibration technique, the metric lens distortion calibration method is used to calibrate all the evaluated models.