Selective colorization using monochromic imagery

Abstract

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may include stereo cameras that include a left camera and a right camera. The cameras may capture a majority of images in black and white, which may be captured in a single color channel. At certain times during a flight, the UAV may be configured to generate colorized images. To generate colorized images, the camera may capture a first image using a default color channel (e.g., green), which may be used for black and white images, and then selectively apply a color filter to capture a second image associated with a different color channel than the first image. A multi-channel color image may be created using at least the first image and the second image. By adding a third image in the remaining color channel, the created image may be generated as a red-green-blue image.