Large vs small baseline when shooting 3D

I have been on holiday with my family to a theme park called "Astrid Lindgrens Värld" (Pippi Longstockings world in English). I can recommend anyone with small children to go there, my son just loves it.

Of course I brought my 3D camera (which also shots good 2D photos). Below are some shots I made of a stone bridge. I made some experiments with the baseline (the distance between photo shots). And you can see the results in the 3D boxes below.

Small baseline

A small baseline is used (the cameras built in baseline wish is about 75mm or about 3inch)

The result of the "small baseline" shot. (click and drag to rotate 3D model)

Large baseline

A large baseline is used. A normal digital camera is used and the camera is moved between photo shots.

The result of the "large baseline" shot. (click and drag to rotate 3D model)

Conclusion

As you can see, the 3D model made with the large baseline is much "smoother". The shape of the rocks are captured more accurately. The "small baseline" model is not as smooth at all. This is not surprising when using a baseline much smaller than the size of the object you are photographing, the depth in the picture is much harder to calculate for the computer. In this case the 3D camera is not doing a better job than a normal digital camera. The 3D camera (which is in fact two cameras built into one with a small distance (baseline) between) is best used as a normal 2D camera when shooting large objects.

My recommendations for creating 3D models from photos:

• Use a 3D camera when photographing small objects close by (of course a 2D camera works too but it is harder to make perfect shots).
• Use a normal digital (2D) camera when photographing large objects (or use your 3D camera as a 2D camera). And remember to use a larger baseline.