MATLAB: Does Stereo Camera Calibrator App work for angled cameras

Question

I am working currently on a stereo camera system with two cameras. My aim is to get the camera-to-object distance. Is it really necessary that the cameras are completely parallel or will the calibration, rectification routine work with an angled position of the cameras to each other? 

Answer 1

Currently, the stereo calibration App does not have any hard limitations on the angle between cameras:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2020b/vision/ref/stereocameracalibrator-app.html

This means that you will get calibration parameters that rectify your images to a certain degree if the calibration process is successful. The success depends not on angle specifically, but on the quality of the images provided. For example, two perfectly aligned cameras with very blurry and incomplete pictures will fail the calibration process. Conversely, two highly angled cameras (10 deg +) with clear, high-resolution checkerboard pictures will succeed in the calibration process. 

You can evaluate the calibration accuracy to gauge whether it is suitable for your needs or not. Please check the following two links for additional information on this:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2020b/vision/ug/evaluating-the-accuracy-of-single-camera-calibration.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/153348-tips-and-tricks-about-3d-scene-reconstruction