Next Gen Ricoh 360?

[EwanRGR]

With the Ricoh V coming on two years old, one wonders when the next Ricoh 360 camera will be coming out? Am hopeful the next one will have removable media and battery, and ideally move the charging port so that you can hook to an external battery for longer shoots when on a tripod or selfie stick. Anyone else?

[codetricity]

@EwanRGR

move the charging port so that you can hook to an external battery for longer shoots when on a tripod or selfie stick.

You can use a cheap extension to allow access to the charging port of the current THETA S and THETA V. It works with a portable rechargeable battery.

$3 Tripod Modification for THETA Live Streaming USB Cable

[image] With $3 and 10 minutes of build time you can modify any tripod to work with the THETA S in live streaming mode with a USB cable plugged in. At my local hardware store, OSH, I found all the pieces I needed to build an adapter that allows the micro USB cable to be plugged in while the THETA is mounted to a tripod. [image] 1 pc 1/4” by 20 pitch rod coupling nut 1 pc 1/4” by 20 pitch threaded rod, 3 inches long 2 pcs 1/4” by 20 pitch hex jam nut [image] Use one hex jam nut to lock …

Note, I don’t work for RICOH. These are my personal fantasy features. I would like to see:

• an improved Wi-Fi antenna or a way to attach an external Wi-Fi antenna
• way to turn camera on through USB or external socket. I want to bypass the power button and have the camera turn on when external power is supplied (like a web cam)
• way to power camera from external jack, not USB. I want to use USB OTG and power the camera at the same time. I want to bypass the battery. Ideal situation would be to use Power Over Ethernet
• built-in software to automatically sync with Google Photos, same as a mobile phone
• improved speaker. Louder.
• built-in software to send THETA voice commands
• easier integration to use mobile phone data connection as a way for THETA to stream or upload images and video direct to major services like YouTube, FB, Google Photos. I’d like to bypass the mobile app and just use the mobile phone as a data connection.

[gerlos]

Here’s how I power my camera when taking night time lapse shots:

The nice thing to have the USB port on the bottom is that the cable and the power bank are “invisible” when I put the camera on a tripod (or, better, on a light stand), since they are on the Nadir of the shot.

Choose a “dumb” power bank - we want a power bank that provides energy no matter of the current absorbed by the camera.

Some power banks are “smart” and turn themselves off when the device connected requires very little power. Often this happens because the the battery of the device you connected is already charged, and it’s a good thing, but may happen also when you connect a device that requires very little power, like a Ricoh Theta camera.

Talking about my wish list for next-gen Theta, I’d like to add

• RAW capture as DNG files, mostly for larger dynamic range and to be able to accurately set white balance after the shot for a set of pics taken in variable light conditions (like sunset). This would allow also more powerful denoising than would be possible in camera.
• Voice commands, like GoPros (something like “Theta, take a photo!”)
• I’d love built’in automatic upload to Google Photo too. This would be really awesome, it could enable smoother and more advanced workflows on both mobile and desktop.

[jcasman]

Nice details on using an external battery. Thanks for the comment on “dumb” versus “smart.” Helpful.