Automatic correction of weak radial lens distortion in single views of urban scenes using vanishing points

A new robust method to determine the distortion function of camera systems suffering from weak radial lens distortion is presented. It is based on single images and uses the distorted positions of collinear points. Neither information about the intrinsic camera parameters nor 3D-point-correspondences are required. The algorithm uses vanishing points of dominating directions for the iterative adjustment of collinear points and works without user interaction. The actual radial lens distortion of the most wide-angle and low-cost camera systems fits the used distortion model with two distortion coefficients sufficiently. The results of experimental measurements of different camera systems are presented and discussed.