Looking for Ricoh Theta developers who can help me with a simple custom app

Hi. Apologies in advance. Im not sure if im allowed to post this here. But im in search for a developer to make me a simple app to control the ricoh theta SC2, V and Z1. Il need a login page, and images captured will need to be uploaded to a server. I know its a rather simple app, but cant seem to find a developer with a ricoh camera. I can provide you with all server side API’s. I just need the App ( Flutter ). If anyones interested please let me know ?

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@jasonod888 Fine to post this here. Is this connected with a company or is it a personal project? Is there a deadline? OK for people to DM you?

@jcasman thanks for your reply. This is connected with a company, for a market test. Id like to have in developed in 2~3 Weeks. And absolutely yes, people can DM me.

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Just to clarify a few points:

  • is it a mobile app that runs on both Android and iOS?
    • assuming that the mobile app talks to both the camera and your server
  • do you need the app to talk with both the server and the camera at the same time? Or, is it okay if the user disconnects from the camera briefly and then then uploads the images from the mobile phone to your server? The Android devices have a problem with using both mobile LTE and Wi-Fi (for the camera) simultaneously
  • It’s likely cheaper to build if your app if it uses the images from the THETA camera roll, meaning that the user has to use the THETA official mobile app to take the pictures and transfers it the mobile phone with the official RICOH THETA mobile app. Your custom app would then just look for THETA images on the mobile devices and then push the THETA images up to your server. However, the significant downside is that the user has to use two different mobile apps. If your custom app has to take the pictures, do you need the live preview on the app that is taking the pictures? This is all possible, but increases the complexity of building the app.
    • however, it is possible that someone on this forum has already built the same app that you need and is able to reuse the code with just a new login screen and server endpoint. If we can find a person where the last project they did allowed them to reuse the code, then you’ll luck out and that person can likely get you the app quickly. The highest probability is to find a consulting company that already has the SC2, V, Z1. For example, the guy that just asked a question on the dateTimeStamp option is at a mobile app development company and they have THETA cameras and he’s building an app right now. Though, he might be busy. I think there are several other development companies that ask camera API questions and thus we know they are building a mobile app.

Hi Craig, thank you for your detailed questions and suggestions. let me try and answer all your queries.
a. Only an Android app will do
b. Yes, disconnecting from the camera and uploading while connected to the internet works
c. Its a great suggestion to have two apps, might just use it incase i dont find someone to build the app. But i feel for our use case we would need a single app
d. Yes Live preview will be required

Yes i noticed in your tutorials and on github that there are already built apps using the same. Just need to change the endpoints as you have suggested. Eagerly waiting to get connected with a company, enthusiast or a freelancer and get this app done.

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Jason, thanks for this information. Your post made me realize that this site does not have a list of consultants or software consultancy firms. I just had an online meeting with @jcasman to see if we can make a short list of people that we know have built apps and are open to taking on project work.

Here’s our plan:

  • Jesse will contact known developers 1:1 by email and see if they’re open to taking on project work. If they are, he will make the intro. The only reason we’re inserting ourselves into the communication process is to respect the privacy of the developers. Our goal is to have a public list of consultants that we can refer business people to and then they handle all the communication and negotiation themselves.
  • although it’s a bit of a search and some work, you can look at people that posted on the API Usage category. If their post deals with the WebAPI, it’s highly likely that they have built a mobile app. You can also try to DM them on the forum yourself. Many of the developers are working at companies that own the intellectual property for a specific industry such as “real estate software.” In those cases, it is unlikely they can take on project work. However, some people are consultants or hobbyists with another job that allows them to take on project work on the side.
  • We have opt-in email lists of thousands of THETA developers. We will post to those lists to see if anyone is interested in being listed as a consultant for mobile app development using the WebAPI of the THETA

Comments on technical requirements

  • it’s fairly easy to take the picture and set camera options with the API. The tricky part is figuring out what options you want to set and how to layout things like sliders, buttons, drop-down menus and be nicely integrated with the rest of your app. It’s totally doable, just might take some work to have a good workflow for your end-user.
  • Jesse pointed out that you mentioned Flutter in your first post. I haven’t had any problem with using Flutter to output to iOS. So, if you have a Flutter app for Android, you should be able to output the app as iOS. The only tricky part is the push notification on iOS is more complex due to Apple restrictions. It’s possible with a relay such as Firebase, but it does need to be setup.
  • livePreview is possible. It’s motionJPEG. The SC2 and the V/Z1 behave slightly differently, but all three models work. Again, it would be easy if the person already had a working mobile app that they can just modify the login screen and server upload end-points for you.

Hi Craig,

Thanks a ton.truely appreciate your help. If I may suggest, a standardized means to connect with these developers will go a long way in helping the whole community. I’m sure there are lots more people out there who want to experiment similarly but are not coders.

Thanks for the technical advice. I only suggested flutter as I understand it would easy to shift to iOS, if and when Il need to do so. But it really is not a mandate.

Again, thank you!!!

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Jason, I met with Jesse today to discuss our outreach plans. He intends to send email out to the people that signed up for this site. RICOH THETA SC2 Developer Information

The API for the V and Z1 is largely the same as the SC2. We have a special SC2 API site because the SC2 is the newest (not the top-of-the-line, just the newest) camera and the platform is slightly different. We needed to send the SC2 developers specialized test updates and workarounds.

As of 2021, the largest developers are using these languages:

  • Java / Objective C (the vast majority)
  • Kotlin / Swift (moving over rapidly, but people still have their in-house apps they built with Java and Objective C)
  • Flutter - no one that we know of is using this in production. It may be too new.

Although we use Flutter at Oppkey (the company that manages this forum), it is because we are building tests and prototypes. For this reason, it is much easier for us to test something like MotionJPEG display on both iOS and Android. However, we do not have to build the full, completed app with all the security and notification features.

We’re going to start the search for developers with this background:

  • built mobile app to talk to the RICOH THETA and can build connection to the server (likely a straightforward REST API to get the images and metdata up there)
  • any language (Java, Objective C, Kotlin, Swift, Flutter/Dart)
  • must have at least one RICOH THETA for development

Do you have all the camera models for testing?

If both you and the developer do not have all the models needed for testing, @jcasman and I may be able to help to a limited extent with testing.

We may be able to do limited functionality testing with a non-confidential apk on Android just to make sure the app can talk to the camera and push up the images. We have all the camera models. We can’t commit to doing the testing right now as we often get super busy with projects. However, if we have time, we can use adb to install the compiled apk and see if it runs with different models.

Hi Craig
Sorry for the late reply. I can’t thank you enough for your support on this subject. I just bought an sc2, so I can definitely test with that, but don’t have the v and the z1