Ricoh’s New 360-Degree Theta X Is Easier to Use As a Standalone Camera

If you wish to seize 3D images or footage on a funds, Ricoh’s Theta line continues to be a comparatively inexpensive different to multi-camera rigs. It’s a a lot simpler answer now, too: The new Theta X is the corporate’s first 360-degree digicam with a touchscreen and different upgrades that make it simpler to make use of as a standalone digicam.

There are nonetheless loads of cell apps that leverage a smartphone or pill’s digicam and movement sensors to seize 360-degree imagery, nevertheless it’s a painstaking course of requiring customers to always reposition their system as if trapped inside a big sphere. A devoted 360-degree digicam makes it simpler to snap panoramic photographs with a single button press, they usually enable 360-degree movies to be captured simply as simply. These gadgets may not be as in style as they as soon as had been, however they’re nonetheless very helpful for creating content material for VR and an necessary device in relation to mixing visible results with live-action footage.

Ricoh’s Theta gadgets use a pair of back-to-back cameras with 180-degree fisheye lenses to seize every little thing across the system in a single snap, however to assist hold the value and measurement down, they depend on a connection to a cell app for configuring settings and offering the photographer with a reside preview for framing photographs. The new Theta X is Ricoh’s first digicam to function a 2.25-inch touchscreen show, which is not solely helpful for framing photographs sans a smartphone, it additionally makes it simpler to configure settings, hook up with wi-fi networks, and carry out firmware updates by itself.

The Theta X additionally runs an Android-based OS, which is able to enable third-parties to develop customized plugins to increase the digicam’s capabilities—a function that can even profit from the built-in touchscreen, permitting these plugins to be put in instantly from the system. To additional enhance the Theta X’s performance as a standalone digicam, Ricoh has additionally launched a swappable rechargeable battery, and the power to seize content material to a microSD card as an alternative of simply the system’s 46GB of inner reminiscence.

Image and video high quality look like a step up from the Theta Z1. The Theta X captures 11K photographs for “high-resolution bright-light indoor photography” or at 5.5K “to capture images easily and efficiently in other scenarios.” Video can be captured at as much as 5.7K resolutions (5760 × 2880) at 30 frames per second, or as much as 60 frames per second when dropping right down to 4K (3840 × 1920).

Other options embody extra streamlined Bluetooth connectivity with out the necessity for PIN codes, built-in GPS and help for A-GPS, and a USB-C connector for file transfers and powering the digicam whereas it’s in use. Available beginning in March, the $800 Theta X will really be barely cheaper than the $1,050 Theta Z1, however that’s as a result of it should really lack some professional options like the power to shoot in RAW mode or document spatial audio alongside video.