XIII Congress of the 
International Society for Photogrammetry 
Helsinki, 1976 
Commission V 
Report of Working Group V/2 
Pror. Dr. Inc. WOLFGANG FAIG 
University of New Brunswick 
Fredericton, N.B., Canada 
Photogrammetric Potentials 
of Non-Metric Cameras 
N THE FALL of 1972 Working Group V/2 was 
formed with the task to address itself to 
Resolution 2 of Commission V passed at the 
XIIth ISP Congress, which shall be quoted for 
reference: 
*,..to undertake the following additional 
studies: 
2.1 Photogrammetric potentials of non- 
metric cameras 
2.2 Basic concepts of application of photo- 
grammetry in quality control in indus- 
try." 
Asthereappeared to be a considerable over- 
lap with Working Group V/1 (Chairman: Prof. 
Dr. Ing. K. Linkwitz), it was decided to con- 
centrate on non-metric cameras, often refer- 
red to as off-the-shelf cameras. With this in 
mind, the following areas of interest were 
defined within the overall theme ofthe work- 
ing group: 
(1) Definition and Classification of Non- 
Metric Cameras 
(2) Calibration of Non-Metric Cameras 
—Methods and Parameters, Comparison 
of Approaches 
—Accuracy and Tolerances 
—Repeatability and Recalibration 
(3) Object Space Control Requirements and 
the Actual Determination of Control 
(4) Comparision of Metric and Non-Metric 
Photogrammetry in terms of feasibility, 
economy, and simplicity 
(5) Evaluation of Non-Metric Photography 
and Instrumentation Used 
(6) Practical and Experimental Experiences, 
especially in the area of quality control in 
industry. 
Discussions and correspondence with the 
members of the working group led to the de- 
sign of a rather comprehensive questionnaire 
on the use of non-metric cameras which was 
distributed to the ten full and contributing 
members of the working group, eleven other 
colleagues who have been involved in photo- 
grammetric applications of non-metric cam- 
eras, and 31 additional national corre- 
spondents of ISP Commission V. A follow-up 
reminder increased the response from 40 per- 
cent to 60 percent (31 out of 52 coming from 23 
countries!), of which 18 indicated present in- 
volvement with non-metric cameras, which 
represents 35 percent of the total mail-out. 
Prior to drawing any conclusions from this 
representative sample, I shall summarize the 
main responses, considering the actual users 
of non-metric cameras only. The following 
major areas were identified: 
(1) User environment: university 50 per- 
cent; research institute 25 percent; pri- 
vate company 25 percent. 
(2) Cameras utilized: a large variety re- 
sembling the display of a well stocked 
photographer’s store was named with the 
exception of Hasselblad products for 
which 20 percent ofthe users have opted. 
(3) Knowledge of Interior Orientation: 22 
percent claim to know the interior orien- 
tation sufficiently well. Most of the re- 
maining 78 percent perform some kind of 
a calibration, while a few resort to reme- 
dial steps or do not require accurate re- 
sults. 
(4) Calibration: 53 percent perform a labora- 
tory calibration while 47 percent cali- 
brate on the job. In addition to the basic 
parameters (principal point and principal 
distance) 87 percent include radial lens 
distortion parameters, while 25 percent 
also include decentering lens distortion, 
and 19 percent add affinity parameters. 
(5) Frequency of Calibration: 50 percent 
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING AND REMOTE SENSING, 47 
Vol. 42, No. 1, January 1976, pp. 47-49.