This paper addresses the pressing concern of sustainability and environmental impact in soil testing methodologies. Traditional approaches often involve placing measuring instruments directly on or within the soil sample, which can disrupt natural conditions and skew observations. With growing recognition among researchers of this approach leading to inaccuracies, especially in heterogeneous or reinforced soil tests like triaxial experiments, this study introduces a novel approach of utilising digital image analysis to measure soil deformation in small-scale testing. Instead of intrusive instruments, an ordinary digital camera is employed to track soil movement at regular intervals. The captured images are then digitised using a MATLAB-based Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) program. Unlike conventional techniques relying on markers or beads, this method leverages differences in texture between adjacent images to map soil deformations accurately. The study reveals that the precision of deformation measurements improves with larger patch sizes in the test images. Encouragingly, a strong correlation is observed between the analyses conducted with on-sample transducers and image-based methods, affirming the reliability and potential of the imaging approach. This research underscores the importance of adopting sustainable and environmentally friendly techniques in soil testing practices, paving the way for more eco-conscious methodologies in geotechnical engineering.