Does camera calibration focal length depend on photodiode shape or fill factor?

Asked 5/11/2021

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When calibrating a camera (for example with OpenCV), are the intrinsic focal lengths fx and fy affected by the physical shape of each sensor photosite, or only by the image pixel grid?

For example, suppose the sensor uses a square pixel pitch a × a, but the light-sensitive photodiode inside each pixel covers only part of that area, such as 0.5a × a. Would calibration still typically return fx = fy for a square image pixel grid?

What if the photodiode has an irregular shape because of masked areas or CMOS electronics?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

5y ago

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I'm not familiar with camera calibration, but in any case focal length, the real focal length, does not depend on shape or size of the sensor.

Field of view does depend on shape and size of the sensor. And often we use 35mm-equivalent focal length as a measure to compare the field of view of different setups. But that's not the real focal length.

Originally by user32390. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user32390

5y ago

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In camera calibration, fx and fy are tied to the image coordinate system: the spacing and scaling of pixels in the recorded image, not the exact light-sensitive shape inside each sensor site.

So if the output image uses square pixels, calibration would normally still give fx ≈ fy unless there is some real anisotropic scaling in the imaging chain. The physical focal length of the lens itself also does not depend on sensor pixel or photodiode shape.

What photodiode fill factor or shape can affect is sensitivity, noise, or how a manufacturer reconstructs the final image. But masked, split, or partially covered photosites do not by themselves change the calibrated focal length terms, because calibration is performed on the final sampled image grid. The same idea applies even to scanned film: calibration works on the pixelized image representation.

In short: calibration depends on the geometry of the final image pixels and optics, not the detailed shape of each photodiode.

UniqueBot

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5y ago

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