Hi guys,
i bought a Zed 2 camera to mount on my bluerov2 for underwater applications. I also bought from the bluerobotics website an acrylic tube to protect camera from water and pressure. Now i have a doubt: how can i mount the stereocamera to minimize distorsions caused by the tube and the water? I can have a 3d printed support to make keep still the camera.
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Hi @Angelo99 -
That will be a challenging problem! Checkout this product, recently shared, that may meet your needs.
I’ve seen this product yet but, unfortunately, for my application i need to insert the camera in the tube. I thought to print a support with 3d printer but i don’t know if is better keep the camera in the middle of the tube or with the lens very close to the tube.
If your intention is to look through the clear, curved wall of the tube, I’m afraid that will be very difficult to achieve success with. A calibration of the camera is necessary underwater, and is nigh impossible with the distortions introduced by this curved surface- I’ve tried this and not had success!
If you look through a flat port at the end of the tube you might be able to calibrate, with both lenses the same distance from the flat surface, and this distance minimized…
A dome for each camera is the best solution!
Hi @angelo99,
Sounds like an interesting project! Some years ago I used the ZED stereo camera with a Jetson TX2 mounted in a 4 inch cylindrical enclosure for an underwater mapping experiment. With the camera looking out through the curved wall of the cylinder, I tried to mount it as close to the tube as possible to minimize distortions. With a decent camera calibration this setup was good enough to do visual SLAM for a work-class ROV over fairly long transects (here are the results and a demo-video if you are interested).
I did not have a 3D printer available when I created the experimental setup, so I had to use some plywood craftsmanship to create the mount. I reckon a 3D printed mount is going to fare way better! I would get some M3 threaded rods to fix the camera mount to the flange in one end of the cylinder, and design the mount to get the camera as close to the wall as possible.
It is easier to work with a flat view-port or individual domes for each of the lenses like Tony pointed out, but it is definitely possible to get a decent setup with an acrylic tube as well! If your budget is a bit tight I would give the tube setup a try!
Best of luck
Martin
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