Depth data and distance

The depth vision for the Kinect sensor ranges from around 800 mm to approximately 4000 mm (2.6 feet to 13.1 feet), which is the default range for the depth stream. However, the sensor can capture the information beyond 4000 mm, in which case the quality of data will be compromised as the sensor is not built for that.

Note

The DepthImageStream and DepthImageFrame classes have the MaxDepth and MinDepth properties, which return the maximum and minimum depth ranges for that particular stream or captured image frame, in millimeters. This range value returns the best range where distance can be measured properly. Keep in mind, these are read-only properties; these values will change automatically based on the selection of DepthRange for the stream.

The following image shows the default depth range for a Kinect sensor where the sensor can track the objects and measure the distances:

The Kinect depth sensor calculates distance based on the straight distance between the object...