Ricoh Theta V 4k 360 Spherical Camera

Features

• Theta V shoots hi-def smooth 360 Degree video at 30 fps @ 3840 x 1920 pixels or 4K. It supports the H.264 file format for video recording ; Remote release: CA-3-compatible
• Hi-res 360 Degree spherical stills & video with improvements to the image quality. New Qualcomm Snapdragon processor has completely enhanced the exposure accuracy and white balance algorithm. Object distance- Approx. 10cm - ∞ (from front of lens)
• Theta has a 4-channel microphone that supports 360 Degree spatial audio recording built in Omnidirectional audio is recorded not just in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction
• The world’s-first Remote Playback capable fully spherical camera allows users to wirelessly playback 360 Degree images and videos on a large-screen display Using a compatible wireless display adapter
• Wireless LAN transfer speed (WLAN, MAX): 2.4GHz, 3mm: 20Mbps; 2.4GHz, 10mm: 10Mbps; 5GHz, 3mm: 50Mbps; 5GHz, 10mm: 10Mbps. The camera can always be connected to a smartphone using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) This function provides improvements in usability and power consumption

Description

The Theta V is lightweight 360 Degree spherical camera, it’s easy to use and compact enough to carry everywhere. Enhancements including a new image sensor and Processor for improved image quality Allow the camera to produce more realistic “as-if-you-were-there” 360-degree content. The camera’s new high-speed data transfer is 2. 5 times faster than previous Theta models, allowing users to quickly and wirelessly upload 14 Megapixel stills and high-resolution 4K videos for immediate showing and sharing. Omni-directional audio recording functionality enables 360-degree audio that is a strong complement to the high resolution video, dramatically enhancing the realism of a scene. The Theta V can connect to and be controlled by any Android or iOS-based smartphone or tablet using the Theta S app. Connection is either via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-which enables an “always-on” connection between a camera and phone-or Wi-Fi, providing users with greater flexibility in how they wirelessly control the camera. A new and unique feature of the Theta V is that Ricoh will be able to create new functions for the camera via software plug-ins. The first of these plug-ins was developed by Ricoh and is already integrated into the phone. It enables the Theta V to deliver the world’s first remote playback capability in a commercially-marketed, fully spherical camera. The camera has a 4-channel microphone that supports 360 Degree spatial audio recording built into its body. Omnidirectional audio is recorded not just in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction, making it possible to reproduce sound and video as it was in the environment where the video was shot by linking 360 Degree video and audio together. Furthermore, using the dedicated accessory 3D microphone TA-1 (optional) scheduled for launch With the camera will allow users to pick up natural sound with a large volume of information at low to high frequency. Wireless communication protocol (WLAN)- HTTP (Open Spherical Camera API compatible). Battery Life - Still image - Approx. 300 images, Video - 80 minutes Shooting Functions : Noise reduction DR correction HDR rendering Interval shooting Shooting with self-timer shooting with multi brackets

Product Dimensions 1.8 x 0.9 x 5.1 inches

Item Weight 4.3 ounces

Shipping Weight 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

ASIN B074W5BKYS

Item model number 910725

Batteries 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included)

Customer Reviews 3.9 out of 5 stars 335 ratings 3.9 out of 5 stars

Best Sellers Rank #2,046 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics) #11 in Sports & Action Video Cameras

Date first listed on Amazon August 31, 2017

abunda_amazon_reviews I was rather excited to get this one as I liked Theta S, and was hoping that Theta V would be continuing the legacy of the previous model, but with better optics and processing hardware. So I ordered as soon as it was available on Amazon. Right away I was disappointed by stitching artifacts—double images at the borders between the images produced by either lens. These were absent in the images produced by previous, less expensive model—Theta S. Quite frankly, the fact that there were no stitching artifacts on Theta S was comforting. It was nice knowing that a usable image is possible out of camera right away. This is not the case with Theta V. Further analysis revealed that Theta V has a worse compression—simply looking at the images revealed that there si a visible macroblocking, especially visible at the edges of objects, making any improvement of the optics almost pointless.One of the reasons behind worse JPEG compression is smaller file size. Original from Theta S is 3.7MB while the Original from new Theta V is 1.1MB. Theta V has the same number of pixels, same JPEG encoding schema, but allocates only about 31% of the file size to the same image content. A pessimist in me thinks—is this what Ricoh doing to advertize improved transfer speeds per image? PROS: shaper optics, UHD for Video; possibly better color accuracy; better purple fringe control. CONS: stitching artifacts resulting in doubled image at any cross over edge between field of view of two lenses; significant quality loss due to smaller file size and therefore higher compression ratio (Images provided for reference are from Theta V (pinkish or orangeish hue) and from Theta S (cyan or greenish hue). For legend see side-by-side combined images);;Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2017;;1.0 out of 5 stars;;Unacceptable stitching artifacts, significantly higher compression for stills.;;Dimak;;/gp/customer-reviews/R1A4248JYWZOAQ/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B074W5BKYS;;;This is complicated, the camera itself is shockingly good at what it does. but the firmware, supporting app and web-service is so dramatically flawed that you really gotta skinny around the flaws to really appreciate how well the THETA V works. For starters, the manual, iso priority and the EV adjustments only work now and then, you can adjust the exposure on the iPhone app, click capture and find yourself with a un-addjusted capture.. this is more a rule than an exception.. so kindly forget all about using the manual anything adjustments. instead shoot auto with applied "HDR RENDER" its not perfect, but by far the best looking exposure. *sometimes the EV adjustment will take in AUTO. I prefer to shoot a bit under exposed to recover the highlights. however find im generally more successful when using the "HDR RENDER" feature. Firmware update.. was successful after trying 4 different USB cables. "Like Seriously" OK big one for me.. to share these images on the go.. you must log into the THETA 360 website. you can ONLY do that with either Facebook or Twitter.. im just going to repeat my headroom and say ""Like Seriously"..... SERIOUSLY.. let users setup accounts with email & password so we don't have to involve FB and Twitter in every frame we share via txt ;-) Last HUGE problem. this camera is all about the two huge fisheye lenses.. but ship with absolutely no lens protection. any serious lens you buy come with a lens-cap. so should the THETA, or even better a VERY simple hard-case plastic sleeve or similar that you can drop it into for protection. if you damage the lens the camera is done. so make something that will protect it before you take it backpacking. That said. getting past the immature app and webservice, use something like kuula.co to share the files. get yourself a monopod with legs to have less to remove from the ground part of the shot. shoot in AUTO because it works.. and you DO get a surprisingly good file with virtually no stitching errors for a minimum of effort. (im used to shoot commercial spherical which takes lots of time per click) this is truly a 1-click ready to use spherical camera.. If the camera came with a protective anything, had a working manual / EV adjustment.. and could be used without setting up a facebook account. I would probably rate this 4-5 stars.. the camera is surprisingly good, BUT those issues.. im sorry that complete package have too many problems to be anything more than 2 stars.;;Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2017;;2.0 out of 5 stars;;Amazing camera with seriously flawed software;;Bo Lorentzen;;/gp/customer-reviews/R2BHFQU70Q8MY3/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B074W5BKYS;;;I've bought three of these for my company. The first worked fine. The app was buggy, but I'm techy enough I found various workarounds and was happy with the videos themselves. This leads me to order two more. Camera 2 has had nothing but major connection problems. Now, I run a company and I gave it to an agent. Most of my agents are amazing, however, I am usually walking them through tech stuff. So when an agent says she is having connection issues, I think it's like I had with mine. I gave her a few pointers, counted it goo.d She still reported problems. Finally, I go to take a look at it over the weekend. The whole "camera wifi" is broken. It simply won't connect to anything for more than a few seconds, if at all. I updated the firmware, no difference. It's not an app issue, it's a camera issue. So it's past the 30-day exchange window, and Amazon wants me to mail it back for a few weeks for "repairs". I want an exchange since it's never worked right, Amazon was adamant it would not happen. They gave me Ricoh's warranty site, but trying to register goes nowhere because at the bottom of the warranty registration page it asks for what product type and "Camera" is not an option, so you can't continue (you choose type, then enter a serial, and the serial won't work with other product types). Camera 3 I paid for new (as the others), from Amazon Fulfillment. It came used. Data cable was missing, and the camera already had someone else's photos on it. It works ok though, so I never messed with it. I run a company, I don't have time to deal with crap like this. I told Amazon while trying to chat with them about Camera 2 today, they offered to have us send it off for repairs. Lovely. I don't want it repaired, I want them to recognize they sent a used product and charged me new. And we have the dated photos to prove it. No dice, they didn't even acknowledge it. So here's the deal: When it's working, I love it! Video quality and stitching are top notch. Audio is great. My clients love it. I upload the videos to youtube (unlisted) and send links to them, nothing but praise. The app sucks, and you definitely want to upgrade the firmware on the camera. You cannot just drag video files via a wired connection to your computer unless you want a weird video that' s useless, you need to either send it via "camera wifi" to your phone for it to convert to a videosphere, or download the Ricoh software to your computer and convert it through there. So getting the end product is a bit f a pain. Also, since the app on Android at least rarely works right, don't bother using your phone as a start/stop remote. Just push the button on the camera, transfer it later. It's a great concept, great technology, highly flawed software and transfer flow, and be sure to triple. check everything because you may end up with a used camera you bought new, or one of their many defective ones. You just keep rolling the dice until you get one that works.;;Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018;;2.0 out of 5 stars;;Good when it works;;FunStuff;;/gp/customer-reviews/R1OFOANVFTML9C/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B074W5BKYS