This is a community-generated list of feature requests that will be presented to the RICOH THETA product manager and overall business management team. We intend to collect them and report monthly. This is the second POLL, and we are collecting your votes throughout September 2016.
Ability to fine tune censor focus on both fisheye lenses individually (@svendus)
For HDRi, take multiple photos and process them later (@utjduo)
Updates to the theta360 site - Examples include: Multiple image upload (instead of one-by-one on your phone); Ability to sort images into galleries/albums to share; Simple editing features (@nick)
Just to pick up on the comments from the previous poll about the most requested feature, RAW support:
RAW support without stitching would make it trivial to write 3rd-party apps that can do fast HDR acquisitions
RAW output is very valuable even without any supporting software / library, as long as the RAW file format itself is well documented. Any existing Pentax / Ricoh RAW format would be suitable. Other details such as lens parameters can be derived or dealt with separately (as with all other cameras / RAW files)… or they could be embedded in DNG but that’s optional.
Just as the dualfisheye movie converter, a stills RAW / dewarp / stitcher could be supplied as a standalone binary without revealing any proprietary details
Thanks for this feedback. Nice and clear. I’m not speaking for RICOH; I’m not a RICOH employee. But I think maybe your final point is key. My understanding (extremely limited) is that RAW output exposes information about lens type and sensors. Which may be why RICOH would be avoid this functionality. It may also be that the design philosophy of the camera is “consumer,” not “prosumer,” and therefore only limited image formats are considered needed or desirable.
I will make sure this info is presented to the product manager. I am scheduled to talk to him tomorrow, and I’ll be passing along the August poll information. I’ll include your details.
Reviewing the detailed poll results with TK, the RICOH THETA product manager in the US right now. We are going through slides and feature by feature now. He is appreciative of the feedback and wants to continue. He can’t commit to implementing any features, but it’s important for him to understand the requirements from the community.
@Dheck, nothing to add to what @codetricity is saying above. We got your RAW support feature request to the product manager. I’ll let you know as I hear more.
I like to secure my camera (or hardcase): never trust a mount. A small bracket on the camera (and preferably also on the hardcase) will make it possible to attach a rope. I once lost a gopro because the mount broke while windsurfing. A security rope could have prevented that. I would hate it to loose my Theta!
The Theta S becomes extremely hot while filming in the hardcase. It actually shuts itself down when becoming too hot. I could max film for 10 minutes using the hardcase. Next version should be better is temperature control and not overheat.
We’ve brought this up and discussed it at length with the product manager.
FYI, you may want to put a household fan on the THETA. This is only occurring during live streaming, right? I haven’t heard of it occurring when the video is saved to the camera. See the note below.
The accessories can’t work because the mount hole is already in use bij the mount (to attach the camera to my bycicle or helmet). Currently I have a tight rope around the body to act as a safety bracket. My suggestion for the product development team is to make a bracket on the body itself.
The hardcase is similar (picture refers to the one I have). If I go windsurfing I would like to have some extra safety and not lose the camera including hardcase because the mount breaks.
Just to clarify, this is the mobile app transferring images from the camera to the mobile phone, right? If so, that’s a fairly simple feature to implement as the mobile app is pulling the images from the camera. I think that the off feature would be of most interest for professional or power user photographers. For everyday consumers, I think they want to have it enabled. Maybe RICOH needs an advanced options button.
I can bring this up. The camera and apps were originally targeted at a consumer audience, offering a low cost 360 camera with reasonable image quality. For this reason, the feedback from professionals and power users is relatively new.
Hi Craig
The transfer slows down the Photo workflow quite a bit
I am often shooting things that are moving
waiting for the transfer to finish to take the next shoot the motive are gone or went far away
docent feel alone at that point all right !
When shooting with the button on the side it is running nicely, but then the whole hand and photographer
are always standing in the middle
360 camera with reasonable image quality. For this reason, the feedback from professionals and power users is relatively new.
14 megapixels or higher (5300 x 2650 px)
Aspect Ratio: 2: 1
No gaps along the horizon in the image
No significant joining errors
Details must be discernible in bright / dark areas
Sharpness: no motion blur, subjects in focus
No disturbing effects or filters
From @RobdEstrube in the official RICOH THETA developers forum. Feature request is “Shoot Theta S from app without initiating processing.” Notice of website closure
Shooting the Theta S from the Android app always invokes image transfer and processing so that we experience the long delay before being able to shoot again. In an event situation ( wedding, etc. ) this means forever missing a lot of potential shots that can never be repeated.Can you offer the simple solution to allow the app to simply initiate capture and storage of the images at the firing rate of the hand-held operation of the Theta? We would then retrieve the images from the camera into the app later for processing as normal. It seem like a simple solution to the vexatious delay issue and open the market to many more users needing the faster firing rate.
The Mapillary community (mapillary.com - a crows sourced and open source street view) our biggest request is faster time lapse (perhaps 2 seconds between and not 8 for full resolution). It is ok that images are post processed, like video. It does not matter if a computer have to chew on them all night.
Most people use smartphones and action cameras, but 360 cameras are getting more popular. Especially the LG, because it does 2 second time lapse, but the Theta S has much better stitching.
