An autonomous system for providing consistent images of leaves of plants is disclosed which includes a mobility system configured to move from an originating position to a position above a plant in a field, a robotic system coupled to the mobility system, the robotic system includes a manipulator providing a plurality of degrees of freedom, and an imaging system having an imaging chamber and one or more cameras, the imaging system coupled to the manipulator, the manipulator and the imaging system cooperate to position the imaging system about a leaf of a plant such that the manipulator articulates the imaging chamber substantially parallel and in line with the leaf and further moves the imaging system so that the leaf enters the imaging chamber thereby allowing the imaging system to obtain images of the leaf.