Non metric camera in architectural photogrammetry

Historical buildings and ancient monuments are valuable cultural heritage of nations, that are unfortunately being damaged due to human interference, weather conditions and environmental pollution. So, it is necessary to record all of them in a rapid and easy manner, in order that archaeological studies and establishment of a National Heritage Archive becomes possible. Close Range Photogrammetry (CRP) with interesting and unique capabilities is the most useful tool for this purpose. The difficulty in traditional photogrammetry is the necessity of metric camera that is expensive, hard to access (especially in countries such as Iran that are rich in cultural heritage), far from user - friendliness and needs special processing instruments. Such factors reduce the degree of usefulness and easiness of CRP technology. There are a lot of historical monuments in Iran (which many of them are in the level of the most important cultural heritage of the world) and in the present project one of them i.e. the relief of Driush I, the Great (500 B. C.) on the rocks of Bisotun was choosen as the test field. This splendid monument is, nationally and internationally, highly discussed and there is an emergent propgramme in hand for its conservation and restoration. The present project is concentrated on the application of professional and amateur non metric cameras. These cameras have unknown calibration parameters that are usually photo variant. The kernel of this research is firstly to have a survey on the calibration elements of non metric cameras (that are easily available) and secondly to show the photogrammetric capabilities of a precise non metric (Hasselblad), an amateur (Yashica), and a digital (Minolta) camera from the stereoplotting and rectification point of view.