Calibrate Cameras

R2026b

Automate intrinsic and extrinsic parameter calibration for single, fisheye, and stereo camera configurations

Camera calibration is the process of estimating camera parameters by using images that contain a calibration pattern. The parameters include camera intrinsic parameters, distortion coefficients, and camera extrinsic parameters. Use these camera parameters to remove lens distortion effects from an image, measure planar objects, reconstruct 3-D scenes from multiple cameras, and perform other computer vision applications.

Fisheye camera calibration extends this process by estimating parameters and distortion coefficients specific to fisheye lenses, which is essential for correcting extreme distortion and accurately mapping image points to real-world coordinates in applications such as SLAM, odometry, surveillance, VR, and image stitching. You can use the Camera Calibrator app and functions for single-camera intrinsic parameters, extrinsic parameters, and distortion, the Stereo Camera Calibrator app and functions for stereo parameters and relative orientations, and the dedicated fisheye calibration functions for distortion removal and accurate wide-angle 3-D reconstruction. For information on calibrating multiple sensors in a system, see Calibrate Multi-Sensor Systems.

Apps

Camera Calibrator	Estimate geometric parameters of a single camera
Stereo Camera Calibrator	Estimate geometric parameters of a stereo camera
Multi-Camera Calibrator	Calibrate multiple cameras (Since R2026b)

Functions

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Generate and Detect Calibration Patterns

Checkerboard

detectCheckerboardPoints Detect checkerboard pattern in image

Circle Grid

detectCircleGridPoints Detect circle grid pattern in images

ChArUco Board

`detectCharucoBoardPoints`	Detect ChArUco board pattern in images (Since R2024b)
`generateCharucoBoard`	Generate ChArUco board image (Since R2024b)

AprilGrid

detectAprilGridPoints Detect keypoints of AprilGrid pattern in images (Since R2024b)

Custom Pattern

vision.calibration.PatternDetector Interface for defining custom planar pattern detectors

Generate World Points

`patternWorldPoints`	Generate world point locations of a camera calibration pattern (Since R2024b)
`generateWorldPoints`	Generate world coordinates for keypoints of custom planar pattern

AprilTag and ArUco Markers

`readAprilTag`	Detect and estimate pose for AprilTag in image
`readArucoMarker`	Detect and estimate pose for ArUco marker in image (Since R2024a)
`generateArucoMarker`	Generate ArUco marker images (Since R2024a)

Estimate Camera Parameters

Pinhole Camera

`estimateCameraParameters`	Calibrate a single or stereo camera
`estimateCameraProjection`	Estimate camera projection matrix from world-to-image point correspondences (Since R2022b)

Fisheye Camera

estimateFisheyeParameters Calibrate fisheye camera

Stereo Camera

estimateStereoBaseline Estimate baseline of stereo camera

Store Results

Single Camera

`cameraParameters`	Object for storing camera parameters
`cameraIntrinsics`	Object for storing intrinsic camera parameters
`cameraIntrinsicsKB`	Intrinsic camera parameters based on Kannala-Brandt model (Since R2024a)
`cameraProjection`	Camera projection matrix (Since R2022b)

Fisheye Camera

`fisheyeIntrinsics`	Object for storing intrinsic fisheye camera parameters
`fisheyeParameters`	Object for storing fisheye camera parameters

Stereo Camera

stereoParameters Object for storing stereo camera system parameters

Error Metrics

`cameraCalibrationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated camera parameters
`stereoCalibrationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated stereo parameters
`extrinsicsEstimationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated camera extrinsics and distortion coefficients
`intrinsicsEstimationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated camera intrinsics and distortion coefficients
`fisheyeCalibrationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated fisheye camera parameters
`fisheyeIntrinsicsEstimationErrors`	Object for storing standard errors of estimated fisheye camera intrinsics

Remove Distortion

Pinhole Camera

`undistortImage`	Correct image for lens distortion
`undistortPoints`	Correct point coordinates for lens distortion

Fisheye Camera

`undistortFisheyeImage`	Correct fisheye image for lens distortion
`undistortFisheyePoints`	Correct point coordinates for fisheye lens distortion

Visualize Results

`pcshow`	Plot 3-D point cloud
`plotCamera`	Plot camera in 3-D coordinates
`showExtrinsics`	Visualize extrinsic camera parameters
`showReprojectionErrors`	Visualize calibration errors
`stereoAnaglyph`	Create red-cyan anaglyph from stereo pair of images

Estimate Camera Pose

`estimateExtrinsics`	Calculate location of calibrated camera (Since R2022b)
`extr2pose`	Convert extrinsics to camera pose (Since R2022b)
`pose2extr`	Convert camera pose to extrinsics (Since R2022b)
`estrelpose`	Calculate relative rotation and translation between camera poses (Since R2022b)

Conversions

`rotmat2vec3d`	Convert 3-D rotation matrix to rotation vector (Since R2022b)
`rotvec2mat3d`	Convert 3-D rotation vector to rotation matrix (Since R2022b)
`cameraIntrinsicsToOpenCV`	Convert camera intrinsic parameters from MATLAB to OpenCV
`cameraIntrinsicsFromOpenCV`	Convert camera intrinsic parameters from OpenCV to MATLAB
`stereoParametersToOpenCV`	Convert stereo camera parameters from MATLAB to OpenCV
`stereoParametersFromOpenCV`	Convert stereo camera parameters from OpenCV to MATLAB

Topics

Get Started

What Is Camera Calibration?
Estimate the parameters of a lens and image sensor of an image or video camera.
Using the Single Camera Calibrator App
Prepare camera calibration images and estimate camera intrinsic parameters.
Using the Stereo Camera Calibrator App
Calibrate a stereo camera, which you can then use to recover depth from images.
Using the Multi-Camera Calibrator App
Calibrate a multi-camera system to estimate the relative poses of cameras.
Fisheye Calibration Basics
Fisheye camera model and calibration in MATLAB.
Coordinate Systems
Specify pixel indices, spatial coordinates, and 3-D coordinate systems.
Point Feature Types
Choose functions that return and accept points objects for several types of features.

Data Collection Guidelines

Calibration Patterns
Camera calibration using a checkerboard, circle grid, or custom detector pattern.
Data Collection Guidelines for Single-Camera Calibration
Set up your camera and capture camera calibration images to use with the calibrator app.