Buying the right camera and lens

Development Asset Creation
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1

hey

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but i’m kinda struggling to find any info on up to date recommendations for photogrammetry equipment, especially for cameras and lenses.

My goal is to create middle sized 3d objects from things like garbage bags, rooks, wood logs, maybe furniture like old wodden cabinets etc… Something i would be also interested in, is creating textures from walls, floors etc…

Since my budget is sadly not endless i picked two cams and two lenses which are not excatly cheap but also not super expenisve. Would be nice if someone could point me in the right direction and give me an idea what camera and lens of the both i have picked would be the better choice, or if i should wait and save up for some better hardware.

I guess the hardware is okish but is it enough to produce quality 3d objects ? I would like to avoid buying something now and than hgaving it replaced with better hardware because the quliaty of the 3d objects is not good.

Cams i have picked:

Cam1: without lens

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/cameras/eos-dslr-and-mirrorless-cameras/dslr/eos-rebel-sl3-ef-s-18-55mm-is-stm-lens-kit

Cam2: without lens

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/cameras/eos-dslr-and-mirrorless-cameras/mirrorless/eos-m50-ef-m-15-45mm-is-stm-kit

Lenses

https://store.canon.de/canon-ef-50mm-f-1-8-stm-objektiv/0570C005/

https://store.canon.de/canon-ef-50mm-f-1-4-usm-objektiv/2515A012/

https://store.canon.de/canon-ef-40mm-f-2-8-stm-objektiv/6310B005/

 

2

Hi A-J-K,

Please keep in mind that this does not represent what the whole company (Epic Games) thinks about the gear recommendation and this is solely my professional advice.

 

Since I can see you want to use mainly canon gear I would like to actually advise you to change that to Sony or Nikon.

 

Personally I would advise to go with these bodies:

Sony A7RII

Sony A7RIII

Sony A7RIV

Nikon D800

Nikon D810

Nikon D850

Nikon Z7 Mark I Mark II

Nikon Z9 (pre-orders)

 

If you really need to use Canon, I would go with Canon 5DS or preferably Canon R5.

 

Regarding lenses any full frame prime lenses (not zooms) from sigma art series and Sony g master will work very well. 

Also when you need wide lenses I would not go below 20mm (on full frame). And I would not use rectilinear wide angle lenses, nor use 360°camera rigs (no panorama captures are supported in RealityCapture).

 

Regarding lenses here are some of my recommended ones:

Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM | Art

Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM | Art or Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | Art

 

If you can´t live without zoom lenses:

Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM

Sony FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM

Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS

Just be aware that when using a zoom lens you need to watch which focal length you are currently using and lock the lens at that focal length (either use the lock function if that zoom lens has it or use a duct tape). 

There is nothing worse than having each shot taken with a focal length and aperture (you will have many alignment issues). Yes, RealityCapture can handle this, but it’s not recommended. 

Using prime lenses can save you a lot of time in post production, which is most of the time at least X times more time than the actual capturing process.

3

Hi Ondrej

I was wondering why you would not recommend using a rectilinear wide angle lens. Most other advice I have seen says wide angle is okay as long as it’s rectilinear. Is it just that going below 20 mm is problematic even if the lens is rectilinear because of the stretched out corners?

After your recommendation of the Sigma 20 mm lens I’m strongly considering getting it. My worry is that it has quite a noticeable barrel distortion. Is this less of a problem than it used to be? Maybe no problem at all since RealityCapture corrects for distortion? Maybe the complexity of the distortion is more signifiicant than the strenght.

I’m going to use the lens mostly for architectural work. Interiors. What is most important to me is accuracy and avoiding the banana effect. I don’t really need a lot of detail. I guess accuracy and detail go hand in hand, but if not I prioritize accuracy. 

Also. I was wondering why you advise against Canon. I picked up a used Canon 5D mark ii for pretty cheap. Of course it’s nowhere near the cameras you recommend, but considering I only care about still photo functionality and don’t care much about shooting rate, image stabilization, autofocus and a lot of other functionality I think it should work satisfactory. What I’m missing is low light performance and resolution. But is there something specific about Canon that makes you not recommend it?

4

Hi Bendik,

as you wrote, those images could be deformed in some way. It is possible to work also with those images, but there were mentioned ideal cases.

If you know these distortion parameters then it is not so big issue as software uses that parameters in computation.

If you want to achieve the wanted accuracy that it is a good way to use some kind of GCPs in your project with correct coordinates.

It has struggled with the resolution, image quality, dynamic range and iso capabilities, but there is a lot of people who are using it.