Is the SC2 physically capeable of taking 16bit RAW images?

To be honest, I’m pretty annoyed with the SC2. I just bought one because I saw videos online of people claiming that its capeable of taking HDR images, when its simply not true.

The HDR mode that you use on the app only fakes a HDR, it takes photos a different exposure levels and combines them (thats fine) however, it then compresses the files to an 8bit JPEG. Why?

I bought this camera because I wanted to make HDRIs that I can use within my VFX workflow, but honestly at this point I’d be better off buying a tripod for my phone.

Is the camera phisically capable of storing 16bit RAW images? Is it just that the compression done at the end is causing this? Because if not, the “HDR” mode is a shameless lie to consumers.

The SC2 cannot take 16bit RAW images. You would need to combine the images yourself manually. Depending on your level of usage, you may want to get a camera capable of producing the HDRi images internally.

To take the bracket shots, use the RICOH THETA mobile app.

Use something like Lumniance HDR to merge the individual files into a single HDRi file.

Picturenaut is also used by some people.

Example using GIMP


Another example with video.

The video is 6 years old, but covers the workflow which was used in 2018. with the bracket shot, it is still feasible. If you don’t need the light for too many scenes, it would be usable and save you money.

In the Theta app, I have no option for bracketed shooting. I have been doing this myself manually by taking multiple pictures with different exposure values. I’m combining all of my images in luminance HDR and saving them as Exr files (since they work better for lighting 3D environments) but when I try to use the HDRI to light my scene in blender, it doesn’t actually have any of the light information. The image wraps around my scene as it should but the lighting is grey and completely flat. I have tried combining the photos in photoshop also but I have the exact same issue. If I knew this camera saved all the images as 8bit JPEG with no other option, I wouldn’t have gotten it. It isn’t capable of producing true HDRs.

This person is using the SC, which is the previous version SC2.

When you say that it is “grey” and “flat”, are you referring to the lighting looking similar to the lighting below?

The author of the video is saying that it is due to the f/2 aperture compared to a DSLR.

The red dot below is a pointer.

Are you having problems finding the multi bracket shooting setting in the mobile app?

I’m connected to an SC2. Go to shooting settings → Multi bracket shooting

You then add each bracket and save the settings.

After each bracket is saved, you can trigger the camera to take all the brackets with one press.

1 Like

The bracketed shooting option isn’t there in my app. I’ve tried looking for a newer version of the app, I’ve got the latest firmware downloaded on my SC2 and the option still isn’t there.


I’ve looked online and seen other people on Reddit saying the same thing, that the bracketed shot option simply isn’t there.

Either way, this is beside the point to be honest. The “HDR” mode on the app isn’t a true HDR and any HDR aspect of it is killed when its saved as an 8bit JPEG. I have tried multiple times now to make a HDRI from the images I’ve taken on the SC2 but no matter what, its impossible to make a true HDRI with the format of the source images. I’ll show you my exact process and the underlying issue with the whole thing.

Taking multiple shots at different exposure values:
Since the bracketed shot option isn’t showing up for me, I have just been doing this manually. To start out with, I would take photos in HDR mode with he EV set going from -2, -1.7, -1.3, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1, 1.3, 1.7 and 2.
Here are said images;

[grid]




(There was a couple more here but they messed up when uploading and you get the point.)

I would then import all of these images into Luminance HDR to combine into a HDRI, this is where you can see the first issue.


Here you can see that the exposure range is heavily compressed because of the source images format (8Bit JPEG) which holds no real light information. While Luminance HDR might export as a 32bit EXR, it doesn’t make a difference since it never had the light information it needed to begin with.

When these HDRIs are imported to blender, they wrap around the world (which they would anyway as long as your environment is set up right) but there is no real light information being displayed anywhere. Reflections work as intended but that’s simply because the image is wrapped around the world, any image would do this.

HDRI with those images above;

HDRI with completely different lighting but made the same way;

Another with different lighting, done the same way;

I then tried to take all of my images NOT in HDR mode, but in manual and that was exactly the same and that was IF it let me export the final image from Luminance to EXR because sometimes, it only wanted to export as a JPEG or a PNG, which again, isn’t a HDR.

I just don’t understand why this camera has a “HDR” mode if its not actually taking a HDR? In theory, its doing all the correct steps, taking 4 photos at different exposure values and merging them. However, this camera will only save in a format that then makes it impossible to be an actual HDR? I really hope this is a matter of me doing something wrong, but that being said, I’ve worked with HDRs for a while now and no matter what I try to do, I can’t get the image to act as a real HDR because the camera isn’t capable of taking HDR photos! If I knew the camera could only save images as 8bit JPEGs, I wouldn’t have gotten it. If you want a 360 camera with an “okay” quality, there are plenty of others out there, cheaper that do just that without claiming to do one thing it literally isn’t capable of doing. I would say this falls down to “its my fault for not looking into this camera enough” but I did! I saw the HDR mode and manual settings and assumed that surely they wouldn’t force an image format on you that completely negates the point in a HDR.

Note that I do not work for RICOH. This is just my personal observation from helping to manage this independent forum, which is not a RICOH forum. (forum does receive sponsorship from RICOH) My understanding of how the camera works could be wrong. If you need more accurate information on the camera, please contact RICOH directly.

It’s possible that the multibracket shooting is only in the RICOH THETA app, not the other mobile apps that work with the camera and are from RICOH.

As far as I know, the HDR mode will not work for the purpose of using it as the light for VFX. I believe that people must create an EXR or HDRI file themselves, not with the SC2 camera. The image file created in HDR mode is a simple JPG file without the light information.

I am not familiar with using EXR files for VFX. I have seen people use the Z1 model. It has DNG/RAW mode. Maybe they are using that?

As far as I know, the output of the HDR mode of the camera is going to be a JPG file with the same characteristics of the JPG file of non-HDR. I believe that the purpose of the HDR mode of the camera is to simply show different light/dark in a picture. For example, to show the bright window and a dark corner of a room. This is for something like a real estate sales shot and as far as I know, is not for VFX lighting.

In the video I posted earlier, the author suggested that using a DSLR camera, likely on a rotating tripod would provide better lighting.

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t work for RICOH. This is an independent forum of people with the camera. So, my information could be wrong. Additionally, I don’t build VFX models, so I’m not familiar with the requirements. Though, I do appreciate you sharing your information on the requirements of VFX with the community.

2 Likes