Digital Elevation Models of soil surfaces are used in soil erosion research for a better understanding of erosion processes. Non-contacting techniques are used to avoid disturbance of the soil surface. So called laser scanners are used to obtain high-resolution grids (1 mm²/grid cell) from soil surfaces (up to 16 m²). The scanning devices are moving on a heavy reference frame and are thus not very practicable for field work. The time needed for one scan exceeds hours while soil surfaces may change within much shorter periods of time. For faster data acquisition and better versatility as well as for the coverage of large areas, photogrammetry is proposed to be an ideal surveying method. The system is not in contact with the soil surface, large areas can be covered by a block of images, and temporal resolution is determined by the time to take the necessary number of photographs. A camera can be easily transported on field location. This paper will describe the photogrammetric method under development at the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory in cooperation with the University of Hanover, Institute for Engineering Surveys. The method is compared to one of the latest laser scanner devices. Results show that the photogrammetric technique is capable of reducing the time for data acquisition, of covering large areas large by combining multiple images, and that it has a better relative accuracy than the laser scanner.