SC2 for business benefits over SC2 standard

Sary · February 3, 2021, 6:34pm

We’re considering buying a bulk of SC2 to be used by car dealers using our app to capture the car interior. Our app will communicate with the camera to trigger the capturing.

Our go-to model is the SC2 standard. We didn’t buy them yet. We noticed the SC2 for business has preconfigured presets, including cars. Are we missing out something important by not choosing the SC2 for business? Or can we make up for any presets options by setting them programmatically without having the camera owner (car dealer) have to do anything manual from his end?

craig · February 3, 2021, 7:48pm

You can make the preset on the SC2 for the “room” on the SC2B. In my tests, the “room” mode of the SC2B is the same image quality as the SC2. You can send the filter on the SC2 to hdr and it is basically the same as the SC2B image.

However, the SC2B has a nice “room” icon on the OLED panel on the front of the camera. With the SC2, there is no way to tell form the panel that it is in HDR mode. When the picture is taken in HDR mode, the shutter sound will be different. @jcasman has some video clips showing the difference in sound.

Additionally, the SC2B has these nice features:

time shift mode which takes a picture of each lens separately. This is covered in the video I linked to above. It is more relevant for real estate. If your workflow involves a human worker triggering the picture using a mobile app outside of the car, then you don’t need the time shift
case is better. This is also covered in the video

I have sample media for both the SC2 and the SC2B here.

Note that if you want to save the hdr filter on the SC2 so that it take HDR by default when the camera wakes up from sleep, you need to use mySetting. Changing the option alone will not save the hdr filter to survive a reboot or sleep.

This is an example of setting the _filter to hdr.

github.com

theta360developers/webapi/blob/312633a313f90fed199a9f93d20d4998846d2117/packages/theta/lib/src/options.dart#L9


      
          import 'connect.dart';
          
          
const String _url = 'http://192.168.1.1/osc/commands/execute';
          
          
class CameraOption {
            ///Turn on hdr filter
            static Future<Map<String, dynamic>> hdrSet() async {
              var data = {
                'name': 'camera.setOptions',
                'parameters': {
                  'options': {
                    '_filter': 'hdr',
                  }
                }
              };
              var response = connect(_url, 'post', data);
              return response;
            }

This is an example of saving the _filter to my setting to survive reboot.

github.com

theta360developers/webapi/blob/312633a313f90fed199a9f93d20d4998846d2117/packages/theta/lib/src/options.dart#L51


      
              }
            };
            var response = connect(_url, 'post', data);
            return response;
          }
          
          
/// save hdr filter setting to my settings to survive
          /// camera reboot
          static Future<Map<String, dynamic>> hdrSave() async {
            var data = {
              'name': 'camera._setMySetting',
              'parameters': {
                'options': {
                  '_filter': 'hdr',
                },
                'mode': 'image'
              }
            };
            var response = connect(_url, 'post', data);
            return response;
          }

Here is the relevant portion of the official documentation.

github.com

ricohapi/theta-api-specs/blob/main/theta-web-api-v2.1/options/_filter.md

# \_filter

### Overview

Image processing filter.

Configured the filter will be applied while in still image shooting mode. However, it is disabled during interval shooting, interval composite group shooting, multi bracket shooting or continuous shooting.

When \_filter is enabled, it takes priority over the exposure program ([exposureProgram](exposure_program.md)). Also, when \_filter is enabled, the exposure program is set to the Normal program.

The condition below will result in an error.

- [fileFormat](file_format.md) is raw+ and \_filter is Noise reduction, HDR or Handheld HDR
- [\_shootingMethod](_shooting_method.md) is except for Normal shooting and \_filter is enabled
- Access during video capture mode

The current setting can be acquired by [camera.getOptions](../commands/camera.get_options.md), and it can be changed by [camera.setOptions](../commands/camera.set_options.md).

### Support model

This file has been truncated. show original

Note that there is no “supported version” information on the _filter option documentation. I don’t know if it works on the SC model.

Also, I have a tool that your developer can use to easily test this and other options. I’m going to upload the tool to that SC2 site later today. I will let you know when it’s updated.

Feel free to ask more questions. I have both the SC2 and the SC2B. I like the SC2B because of time shift mode. However, if your workflow does not need time shift mode, you can likely get the SC2 and ask your engineering team to implement and test the parameters.

Sary · February 3, 2021, 8:18pm

Thank you Craig. As usual, a well detailed answer.

I’ll watch the videos.

But to sum up my understanding, the SC2B mainly has the time shift mode (which we don’t need in a car’s interior), a better case, and an icon for the room preset shown in the front as well as a different shutter sound. The major thing -presets- can be done programmatically in the SC2.

Correct?

craig · February 3, 2021, 9:11pm

You are correct. In the SC2, it is the _filter setting, not the preset.

github.com

ricohapi/theta-api-specs/blob/main/theta-web-api-v2.1/options/_filter.md

# \_filter

### Overview

Image processing filter.

Configured the filter will be applied while in still image shooting mode. However, it is disabled during interval shooting, interval composite group shooting, multi bracket shooting or continuous shooting.

When \_filter is enabled, it takes priority over the exposure program ([exposureProgram](exposure_program.md)). Also, when \_filter is enabled, the exposure program is set to the Normal program.

The condition below will result in an error.

- [fileFormat](file_format.md) is raw+ and \_filter is Noise reduction, HDR or Handheld HDR
- [\_shootingMethod](_shooting_method.md) is except for Normal shooting and \_filter is enabled
- Access during video capture mode

The current setting can be acquired by [camera.getOptions](../commands/camera.get_options.md), and it can be changed by [camera.setOptions](../commands/camera.set_options.md).

### Support model

This file has been truncated. show original

the shutter sound is the same on the SC2 and SC2B. However, the shutter sound is different when you take a HDR shot and when you take a normal image.

The SC2 is probably the camera for your project as it is cheaper.

Just an FYI that the SC2B is not available on Amazon. People can buy it from RICOH Imaging North America.

Sary · February 4, 2021, 11:03pm

Thanks a lot Craig. Your answers are informative, well detailed and show a big amount of care.

craig · February 5, 2021, 1:26pm

Sary, thanks for the nice comments.

If you happen to talk to anyone at RICOH, please let them know that this forum is useful. We receive sponsorship of this forum from RICOH and it’s good to let managers at RICOH know which resources are useful.

If you buy in bulk from RICOH, there will be other official communication options open to you. This forum is a good supplement of community information. It’s not a replacement for direct official communication with RICOH.

The primary advantage of community communication is that it can be faster, based on informal testing. Other people that have the SC2B can also provide their feedback. The downside is that it could be less accurate. You should verify our tests on your own or confirm with RICOH official staff before making a big buy.

This said, I have both the SC2 and SC2B. I also talk to managers in businesses that use the SC2 to take pictures of the interior of spaces in high volume.

Here’s my personal opinion:

The SC2 and SC2B are largely identical except for changes to the firmware and the color of the camera.
as far as I can tell, the “room” preset of the SC2B is the same as the SC2 hdr _filter
Your mobile app can either set the _filter on the SC2 to “hdr” at the start of every session (each time the camera is turned on and your mobile app connects to the camera) or you can save the “hdr” _filter to my settings to survive a reboot.
the behavior of the SC2 my settings is slightly different than for the Z1 (which I don’t think you are testing). My Settings end-user (field staff) usage is documented here. https://support.theta360.com/uk/manual/sc2/content/shooting-photo/shooting_photo_05.html In the instructions, you can replace the “official mobile app” setup with the behavior of your own custom app. The official mobile app uses the same API

Sary · February 5, 2021, 10:52pm

Noted. Thanks Craig. I will take the 2 channels of communication in mind

saleh · February 10, 2021, 4:12pm

Hi Sary, We have a similar product that, car dealers uses and we also use mainly SC2 product for our customers.
May I know, what is your company name and where they are located?

Thanks
Saleh

Sary · February 10, 2021, 7:48pm

Hello Saleh.

We’re called Win360 with focused sales operations in the US. (win360.io)

What about you?

saleh · February 10, 2021, 8:13pm

We are EZ360 and focused on sales in USA and Canada.

Nice to meet you Sary and let’s keep in touch.
You can reach me at salehs@ez360.tv

Thanks

Sary · February 11, 2021, 10:02am

Thank you Saleh. Same here. I’ll contact you on your email

craig · March 8, 2021, 8:18pm

This is a common type of question from astute business managers. I’ve produced a video that helps answer some questions and provides my own personal opinion on the best camera for different business use cases.