diff --git a/src/BoundingBoxCameraSensor.cc b/src/BoundingBoxCameraSensor.cc
index ced59079..7729945b 100644
--- a/src/BoundingBoxCameraSensor.cc
+++ b/src/BoundingBoxCameraSensor.cc
@@ -331,11 +331,13 @@ bool BoundingBoxCameraSensor::CreateCamera()
   this->AddSensor(this->dataPtr->boundingboxCamera);
   this->AddSensor(this->dataPtr->rgbCamera);
 
+  // use a copy so we do not modify the original sdfCamera
+  // when updating bounding box camera
+  auto sdfCameraCopy = *sdfCamera;
   this->UpdateLensIntrinsicsAndProjection(this->dataPtr->rgbCamera,
-      *sdfCamera);
+      sdfCameraCopy);
   this->UpdateLensIntrinsicsAndProjection(this->dataPtr->boundingboxCamera,
       *sdfCamera);
-
   // Camera Info Msg
   this->PopulateInfo(sdfCamera);