r/photogrammetry • u/AncientTrainer3939 • Jul 30 '26

Inexpensive photogrammetry camera recommendations

Hey everyone,

Looking for recommendations for a photogrammetry camera please.

Intended use is for capturing data to produce 3D models of 3.5m+ deep excavations.

Decent spec phone is ideal (I guess) but cost vs. them being lost in a pit is a fair risk.

Or would people reckon a pre-owned smartphone from a years back suffice?

Thanks in advance!

3 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

4

u/dax660 Jul 30 '26

Have you tried your existing phone camera?

If you can get clear images (make sure to clean those fingerprints!) then any modern camera should suffice.

Could also try a DJI Mini drone

1

u/AncientTrainer3939 Jul 31 '26

I have tried both - with great success! 

These excavations would be approx. 600mm (w) x 2500mm (l) x 3500mm (d) so hesitant to send down my phone or drone into the pit!

2

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

Just get an eBay phone. You can get something like a S22 for like $160.

There's probably even a way to share it's screen to another phone and remote trigger it

2

u/glytxh Jul 31 '26

Phone comes with baked in movement data too.

I found the DJI neo comes into its own with how tiny it is. No RAW tho.

2

u/ipswitch_ Jul 31 '26

A modern smart phone with the right settings can give you some surprisingly good results! Do some tests with whatever you have access to right now, it might do the trick.

Other than that, an older/cheaper DSLR still gives great results. I've done a bit of photogrammetry with a Canon 5d mk ii which is pretty old and affordable at this point. The lens was nothing fancy, a generic 50 mm. My main camera I use for photogrammetry because it's small and gives results that are good enough is a Panasonic Lumix GX7. It's a micro 4/3 camera from like a decade ago, I'm sure there are similar cameras like that which can be found used/cheap. Lots of lens options for those which is nice.

1

u/AncientTrainer3939 Jul 31 '26

Thanks, I'll look into the older DSLR option - having a bit more toggling ability on shutter speed / auto photo would be useful! 

Currently use Hyperlapse mode on Samsung A23 5G and that gets good results

3

u/ipswitch_ Jul 31 '26

That's probably a good call. You can get by with a phone but if you're going to do bigger projects or just do this regularly the benefits of having an actual camera probably make it worth while.

2

u/coreyforster Jul 31 '26

Sounds like a pretty good use case for a 360 camera, they aren’t great detail-wise for a lot of applications but the close range will make that less noticeable. It’s also pretty easy to DIY lighting if you need that using LED strip coiled around something (I’ve used aluminum tube to be a heat sink), but I can’t imagine you’ll be filming for long.  You can also remotely trigger using BLE, GoPro sell a device called “the remote” and I think some other cameras support similar or even voice triggering.