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7.1.5 Leica RCD105 
The Leica RCD105 now offers a new medium format digital 
aerial camera system designed specifically for use with its 
ALS-series airborne LIDAR systems of Leica Geosystems. The 
RCD 105 is designed from the ground up as an airborne digital 
metric camera solution in compliance with all applicable 
airborne environmental specifications, including temperature, 
shock and vibrations. The CC105 Camera Controller is 
responsible for the operation and data storage. The image data 
is stored on two removable hard discs. Camera control is done 
via the operator terminal of the ALS 50. Radiometric 
calibration provided which balances the output of all pixels 
when uniformly illuminated. The lenses of 35, 60 or 100 mm 
focal length are optimised for both RGB and CIR. The CIR use 
requires filter/compensating optic to avoid chromatic 
aberrations, software and calibration. A single camera controller 
is capable of recording data from two camera heads, allowing 
simultaneous acquisition of RGB and CIR images. The RCD 
105 is available the fastest frame interval of 1/4,000s, Dold & 
Flint, 2007. 
8. CURRENT TRENDS AND OUTLOOK 
The current trends in medium format digital cameras include: 
1. A movement towards rapid processing with the aim of (near) 
online orthophoto generation, e.g. for disaster management, 
security applications etc. This is only possible with direct 
georeferencing and several prerequisites, such as precise 
online GPS/INS data, a constant interior orientation and a 
rigorous bore site alignment, and a high speed and high 
quality data management. Compared to digital large format 
cameras, single-head medium format cameras have two 
important advantages for rapid processing: Due to the single 
head, fewer time-consuming preprocessing steps are 
necessary before orthorectification. The smaller images also 
allow for faster processing of single orthophotos. 
2. Multi camera head developments, which will provide a 
similar coverage of a standard digital large format camera, 
but for a much lower price. By their nature, multi-head 
cameras do not acquire vertical images but slightly oblique 
images. This may result in geometric and radiometric 
problems for example every camera of a multi-head has its 
own interior orientation and the relative orientation of the 
different cameras may change slightly. In digital large 
format cameras, a laborious process is necessary to generate 
a single merged image from the different single heads. With 
multi-head medium format cameras a less complex strategy 
is necessary, e.g. maintaining single image treatment. 
3. Forward-motion compensation (FMC) will come, not by 
time delayed integration (TDI) but mechanically. Clients ask 
for larger and larger ground resolution. In order to get 
perfect images with a GSD of 3 - 5 cm, FMC has to be 
applied. 
4. A trend towards a combination of oblique and vertical 
imagery acquisition, e.g. for texturing of 3D-city models. To 
fully exploit the information from the oblique perspective, a 
minimum of four images from all sides have to be acquired 
and managed. Oblique images are difficult to obtain with 
standard mapping cameras. Only single- or multihead 
middle-format camera(s) systems provide the necessary 
flexibility. 
5. Compared to large format cameras the digital sensors of 
medium format cameras have undergone a strong and steady 
increase in resolution, from 6 Megapixels a few years ago to 
currently 39 Megapixel. New technologies will increase the 
number of pixels even further. Kodak, the supplier for the 39 
Megapixel KAF-39000-CA Chip, which is currently in many 
medium format cameras introduced a new Colour Filter 
Array layout. This technology increases the overall 
sensitivity of the sensor, as more of the photons striking the 
sensor are collected and used to generate the final image. 
This provides an increase in the photographic speed of the 
sensor, which can be used to improve performance when 
imaging under low light, enable faster shutter speeds (to 
reduce motion blur when imaging moving subjects), or the 
design of smaller pixels (leading to higher resolutions in a 
given optical format) while retaining performance. 
Nowadays digital medium format camera systems are mature 
airborne systems with high reliability. With the increasing 
demand of “near-online” digital aerial data these systems will 
become even more popular in the future. 
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