A method is disclosed for localizing, in relation to a mark located at a ground level, a surveying instrument having a housing including at least one camera. In at least one embodiment, the method includes aligning the vertical rotational axis of the surveying instrument with the mark using a pointing device; capturing an image of the ground below the housing with the camera arranged in a known camera position and orientation, wherein the camera position is eccentric to the rotation center of the surveying instrument; identifying an object point corresponding to the mark in the captured image; measuring image coordinates of the object point in the captured image; and determining the height of the rotation center of said instrument above the ground based on the image coordinates and camera calibration data. Furthermore, a surveying instrument for performing at least one embodiment of the method is disclosed.