The close range Photogrammetric Laser System ("PLS") is an all digital system designed to measure three dimensional ("3-D") surfaces at relatively close ranges. The PLS comprises two modified stereo cameras with associated analog video and digital recording capability. Using synchronized laser illumination and X and Y cylindrical lens arrangements in each stereo camera, all laser illuminated points can be focused onto a linear detector array whose intensities are used to calculate X and Y position of a 3-D target in the image plane of each camera. Photogrammetric techniques are then used to calculate an X, Y and Z position from the X and Y positions measured in the two stereo cameras. An alternate embodiment eliminates the intermediate recording step in favor of a direct recording in the memory of a data processing system for subsequent manipulation.