Systems and methods for automatic camera calibration without using a robotic actuator or similar hardware. An electronic display screen projects an image of a simulated three-dimensional calibration pattern, such as a checkerboard, oriented in a particular pose. The camera captures an image of the calibration pattern that is displayed on the screen, and this image together with the transform of the simulated three-dimensional calibration pattern are used to calibrate the camera. Multiple different pictures of different poses are employed to determine the optimal set of poses that produces the lowest reprojection error. To aid in selecting different poses, i.e., spatial positions and orientations of the simulated three-dimensional calibration pattern, poses may be selected from only that portion of the camera's field of view which is expected to be typically used in operation of the camera.