Camera calibration is the process of determining a camera’s optical and geometric characteristics so that captured images can be interpreted accurately. It typically estimates parameters such as focal length, lens distortion, principal point, and the camera’s position and orientation relative to a scene. Calibration allows software to compensate for lens effects and establish a reliable relationship between 2D image coordinates and the real world.
Accurate calibration is important in computer vision applications such as 3D reconstruction, robotics, autonomous vehicles, measurement systems, and multi-camera setups. For example, a calibrated industrial camera can estimate an object’s dimensions or position more reliably instead of relying only on its appearance in the image.
