Depth Error Vs baseline

Question

Depth Error Vs baseline How is depth error related with baseline? In another way why short baseline leads to large depth error and long baseline leads to small depth error.

Answer 1

You get depth by measuring stereo disparity, which is inversely proportional to depth. So, if you want to measure things far away from your cameras, the disparity can get very small. Eventually it becomes too small for your cameras to resolve, and your measurement returns an infinite depth. Increasing the baseline increases disparity, which allows you to measure things further away. At the same time, increasing baseline limits your ability to measure things close by.

Essentially, narrow baseline makes your stereo system "near-sighted", while wide baseline makes it "far-sighted".