RICOH
Ricoh Theta hands-on
Ricoh arguably created the consumer 360-degree camera market, and now theta V wants to retake the crown from those that followed it. Making a welcome move to 4K Ultra HD, it adopts a new Android-based architecture that Ricoh promises should deliver far greater flexibility down the line, too. Indeed, the Theta V promises plenty for its $ 430 price tag, but has it done enough to fend off competition in what's become a crowded segment?
The Theta V's design has not changed much from earlier models. Standing just over five inches tall, it's a narrow gray and black plastic stick with a big shutter-release button on the front and power, wireless, and mode buttons down one edge. Status LEDs glow through the front. The HDMI connection previous Theta models offered on the base have been replaced by a 3.5mm audio input, but you still get a standard tripod mounting screw.
Ricoh has used two 12-megapixels sensors for the Theta V, with f/2.0 optics, and which can now capture up to 4K Ultra HD video at 30fps in 56 Mbps H.264 format. Alternatively there’s 2K video support at 16 Mbps. Still are captured as 14.5-megapixel JPEGs, but there’s no RAW mode.
The real improvements are inside. Ricoh now uses a Snapdragon 625 chipset for the Theta V, bringing smartphone-level processing power to its camera. It means a new turn of speed: it’s now fast enough to capture time-lapse shots every four seconds, for example, twice as fast as before.
It also paves the way for on-camera apps, since there’s a customized Android OS running on that Snapdragon. To begin with, Ricoh has added a Miracast streaming app, which runs on the Theta V and, with a compatible adapter on your TV – I used an Amazon Fire TV – allows you to stream 360 video wirelessly directly to the screen. You wave the Theta V around like a magic wand to navigate the on-screen UI.
The real improvements are inside. Ricoh now uses a Snapdragon 625 chipset for the Theta V, bringing smartphone-level processing power to its camera. It means a new turn of speed: it’s now fast enough to capture time-lapse shots every four seconds, for example, twice as fast as before.
It also paves the way for on-camera apps, since there’s a customized Android OS running on that Snapdragon. To begin with, Ricoh has added a Miracast streaming app, which runs on the Theta V and, with a compatible adapter on your TV – I used an Amazon Fire TV – allows you to stream 360 video wirelessly directly to the screen. You wave the Theta V around like a magic wand to navigate the on-screen UI.
Connectivity has seen some changes too, even if the Thetas V still uses microUSB rather than USB-C. The WiFi now supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz connections, and Bluetooth has been added; it means you can remotely control the basics of starting and stopping video recording, or snapping a still 360 photo, from your phone without first joining theta v's WiFi, though you'll still need to do that if you want a live preview.
Ricoh promises faster remote control startup over Bluetooth, which is handy if you're trying to capture something in a hurry: it takes about 2 seconds from remotely turning the camera on from the app before you can take a shot via Bluetooth, compared to about 20 seconds over WiFi. Current transfers demand WiFi and take a couple of seconds for stills but considerably longer for video; Notably, you can not continue using the app while the transfer is in progress.
Ricoh promises faster remote control startup over Bluetooth, which is handy if you're trying to capture something in a hurry: it takes about 2 seconds from remotely turning the camera on from the app before you can take a shot via Bluetooth, compared to about 20 seconds over WiFi. Current transfers demand WiFi and take a couple of seconds for stills but considerably longer for video; Notably, you can not continue using the app while the transfer is in progress.
Ricoh's software approach is a little more convoluted than that of other 360 cameras, primarily because it breaks the capture and editing functionality into three different apps. For capture, you need the Theta S app for iOS or Android; then, if you want to edit photos there's Theta + along with Theta + Video for editing footage. All three are free, but it does mean there's some jumping around to be done in your workflow. If you want to share, you can do so with photos on Ricoh's theta360.com site, though you'll need to log in with either your Facebook or Twitter account. Videos will need to be uploaded to YouTube or Facebook, which you can do directly from the Theta S app.Alternatively you can use Ricoh's desktop apps for Windows and Mac. You'll need them if you're an iPhone user and you want to upgrade the camera's firmware, too, since while Theta S Android app only shows the currently installed version but can i update it too, the iOS version can not. Instead, you'll need a microUSB cable and a desktop or notebook handy. Ricoh says iOS firmware update support should come in Q1 2018.
Ricoh wears its “proper” photography talents on its sleeve. The Theta S app has a whole host of manual controls available, allowing you to tinker with ISO (up to 6400), white balance, shutter speed (up to 1/25,000 second), and more. Its been redesigned versus previous versions, too, so that the manual settings are easier to find.
What you don’t get are the more creative editing options cameras like Rylo and GoPro’s Fusion support. Theta+ Video, for example, supports trimming and cropping, ten different color filters, eight music tracks (plus the ability to add your own), but the most important part is the four different 360 views. Video can be exported as a ball, the “little planet” that looks like a reverse spherical, flat, and straight.
Absent, however, is the ability to easily take a “regular” aspect ratio section of the frame from the 360 shot and manipulate that in the same way that Rylo and Insta360 support. With a Rylo camera, for instance, I could quickly create a traditional 1080p clip from 360 footage that looked as though the camera was physically rotating as on a tripod or gimbal. Although you could probably do that with serious desktop editing software with the footage the Theta V captures, it’s far less straightforward than what rivals are offering.
What you don’t get are the more creative editing options cameras like Rylo and GoPro’s Fusion support. Theta+ Video, for example, supports trimming and cropping, ten different color filters, eight music tracks (plus the ability to add your own), but the most important part is the four different 360 views. Video can be exported as a ball, the “little planet” that looks like a reverse spherical, flat, and straight.
Absent, however, is the ability to easily take a “regular” aspect ratio section of the frame from the 360 shot and manipulate that in the same way that Rylo and Insta360 support. With a Rylo camera, for instance, I could quickly create a traditional 1080p clip from 360 footage that looked as though the camera was physically rotating as on a tripod or gimbal. Although you could probably do that with serious desktop editing software with the footage the Theta V captures, it’s far less straightforward than what rivals are offering.
360-degree live-streaming video is another example of that. Yes, the Theta V can be used to stream live, spherical video, but it'll need to be plugged into a computer to do so: Ricoh does not support it in the mobile apps. Again, it's in the pipeline, with a scheduled release for sometime in Q2 2018.
Chris Daves
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