Model-independent light field reconstruction using a generic camera calibration

Abstract

Abstract Sophisticated and highly specialized optical measuring devices are becoming increasingly important for high-precision manufacturing and environment perception. In particular, light field cameras are experiencing an ever-increasing interest in research and industry as they enable a variety of new measurement methods. Unfortunately, due to their complex structure, their calibration is very difficult and usually precisely tailored to the particular type of light field camera. To overcome these difficulties, we present a method that decodes a light field from the raw data of any light field imaging system without knowing and modeling the internal optical elements. We calibrate the camera using a precise generic calibration method and transform the obtained ray set into an equivalent light field representation. Finally, we reconstruct a rectified light field from the irregularly sampled data and in addition we derive the geometric ray properties as intrinsic camera parameters. Experimental results validate the method by showing that both the information of the observed scene and the geometric structure of the light field are preserved by an adequate rectification and calibration.