An ophthalmic system for generating a topography of an anterior corneal surface of an eye comprises an illuminator, cameras, and a computer. The illuminator illuminates the anterior corneal surface of the eye with a Placido pattern, which reflects the Placido pattern. Each camera generates an image of the reflected Placido pattern to yield multiple images. At least one camera is oriented off an axis of the eye. For each image, the computer calculates a curvature value for each data point of the image, where a data point corresponds to a surface point of the anterior corneal surface. The calculations yield curvature values for each surface point. The computer determines the curvature at each surface point from one or more curvature values for the surface point. The computer generates the topography of the anterior corneal surface from the curvatures at the surface points of the anterior corneal surface.