Dry camera calibration for underwater applications

Abstract. Is it possible to calibrate a camera in the air and then use the calibration results to infer a new calibration corresponding to the embedding of the camera in another fluid (possibly water)? This problem is dealt within the paper. It is important to avoid direct underwater calibration, as it is much more inconvenient for experiments than the usual (air) calibration by human workers. Optical laws that must be considered when using underwater cameras are investigated. Both theoretical and experimental point of views are described, and it is shown that relationships can be found between results of air and water (or any other isotropic fluid in which the camera can be submerged) calibration.