Theta SC2 never shuts off

My Theta SC2 started misbehaving when I was shooting a virtual tour. I can still connect to it and take photos, but I can’t turn the camera off anymore and it’s warm to the touch.

The green LED is blinking, indicating sleep mode. If I press it once, it turns white momentarily and then starts blinking again. The OLED display turns on.

If I press it again, the OLED turns off and the green LED keeps blinking.

If I hold down the power button for 6 or 12 seconds, it pauses for a bit and then starts blinking again. Same with holding power+wifi.

Turning off wifi doesn’t help.

The battery percentage seems to alternate between “20%” and “almost full”. I don’t know what the real charge level is, because it keeps jumping around.

Any ideas?

in my opinion, there may be some problem with the firmware. Can you connect to the SC2 with WiFi (your mobile phone)?

I would try this in order:

  • update firmware using USB cable and desktop app

If the above does not resolve problem:

  • clear saved settings inside of camera (backup all your images and videos first)

If the RICOH mobile app does not have a “reset” button, you can use this API:

This is an old tool, but maybe it still works???

More old videos that still might be useful

Firmware is (and was) reported to be the latest version:

After the JSON factory reset, it briefly returned back to normal. One thing I noticed is that prior to the reset, the power button LED was solid/blinking green, even when running off battery. After the reset, it was solid/blinking white. I saw other posts that said it should be solid green while charging, but that isn’t the behavior I observed when it was acting up.

Now it doesn’t power on at all (regardless of whether USB power is applied). Wondering if it’s time to try a battery replacement.

try official customer support. may be a hardware-related problem.

I changed the battery on a THETA V, but I did not have the problem you are experiencing.

If you take apart the camera, it will void any warranty and it may brick the camera.


This guy had a similar problem, but no solution posted. maybe try contact him with DM.

Good luck.