Theta V RAW image capability

1st time theta user…photography hobbyist for years.

It would be nice if the Theta V had the ability to select image output jpg or RAW (such as DNG). By providing RAW/DNG output, information could be used from the photo to be much more flexible in post processing…noise reduction, sharpening, shadows/highlights…within programs such as lightroom, affinity photo or ACDsee as examples. Then fixing purple fringing/chromatic aberration would also be of benefit while maintaining a high quality final product.

3 Likes

Welcome to the community and thank you for your feedback. It’s great to get insight from professionals like you on what the RAW data such as DNG would be used for. I know some people that work at Ricoh and I’ll pass this info along.

4 Likes

Thank you for the quick response.

Even though storage is limited to 19GB on the Theta V…you are essentially letting end users decide their need…and Ricoh would benefit in Theta sales if end users could provide quality 360 images utilizing RAW editing software…“The WOW Factor” of seeing quality crisp and clear images.

1 Like

This is great feedback. We’ll pass this along.

Just to let you know, my understanding of the RAW image information is that the reason they didn’t release it already is because the RAW data also contains data about the camera. To make the RAW image information publicly available, Ricoh needs to have a legal and engineering team sort through the the RAW image information and make a decision on if the data can be publicly released. This process takes time. Also, the community never presented an organized list of what specific types of RAW camera information, such as DNG, was needed.

Note that I don’t work for Ricoh, but I do meet people that work at Ricoh from time to time and I ask them questions or pass on information to them.

2 Likes

Thanks for the info.

I do hope they add this. Like I mentioned…this was my first 360 camera (Did 360s before with a dslr). So I did a lot of research before I purchased. My decision to purchase was between the Theta V and the Insta360 One.

There are three reasons I went with the Theta over the Insta360One. One was I have android and that is not available yet for Insta360One and not sure when it will be available, two…was that the stitching was better in the Theta vs the Insta360 One and three was the reputation of Ricoh.

However…the Insta360One price point was lower, and they do support RAW format for images, removable storage as well as 6 axis stabilization and 4k video with live streaming.

My hope is that Ricoh can address these upgrades in the Theta V…as I believe the Insta360 One can close the gap with firmware updates for their stitching.

1 Like

Thanks for this information. I’ve taken this valuable feedback and put it into a community update presentation that I’ll send to a guy I know at Ricoh that is a influential with the THETA development.

The key information from you that I am highlighting is to get better editing compatibility with Lightroom, Affinity, ACDsee using RAW information for noise reduction, sharpening, shadows/highlights, fixing purple fringing/chromatic aberration.

This makes the goal more specific as it is focused on common tools used by photographers and specific techniques to improve the final image quality.

1 Like

I agree that DNG file output would be a tremendous upgrade to the Theta V.

1 Like

Has anyone confirmed whether or not it’s possible to use the plugin API to access raw images? The dual fisheye jpeg examples are a promising step in the right direction!

1 Like

I do not believe you can get the RAW information. I’m not that familiar with the RAW format or usage, but I do not see a setting for RAW format in the API. People have been experimenting with using the dual fisheye plugin from Ichi Hirota to produce HDR and tone-mapped images. Community member juantonto is taking some great shots using auto-merge of 3 to 5 images.

I don’t think the plug-in technology has the feature that you’re looking for. I have not experimented with the settings below.

https://api.ricoh/docs/theta-plugin-reference/camera-api/

“RicStillCaptureWDR” DR Correction
“RicStillCaptureMultiRawNR” Noise Reduction
“RicStillCaptureMultiYuvHdr” HDR Composite

Hello,
I work in a visual effects studio and we are testing the ThetaV for our production pipeline.
RAW is very useful in our circumstance as we would like to use an image that is not gamma corrected or specifically an HDR image which has a linear color space.

We use the 360 HDR with image based lighting tools to achieve believable integration of computer generated objects and environments with real world objects and environments.

These real world environments are typically lit with very bright lights thus inducing a problem with getting an accurate color and value information as the images are clipping in these brightest areas. The RAW format allows for and extra two stops of exposure to be extracted from the image.

For example, the HDR bracket I am currently shooting ISO 64 ranging from the 30sec. exposure to the the fastest exposure 1/25000 @ 2EV increments. Even at this fast shutter speed and lowest ISO we see clipping in the brights.

Alternatively with our DSLR rig we are shooting at ISO 100 and are limited to 1/8000 and we are able to get some information out of the brightest hot spots.

The amazing form factor and ease of use of the ThetaV is very appealing as it dramatically reduces the required capture time to shoot this HDR bracket from 7 minutes to 70 seconds!

A RAW file type such as .raw, .dng, or such as uncompressed .tiff would allow us to do the post processing required. Additionally the openEXR format is very well suited for this.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

1 Like

@vfx_weinberg, thank you for this detailed information. @jcasman and I will send this to a person we know at RICOH.

There’s great detail in here on usage for the VFX industry. thanks.

Community member Fabien Christin had this to say:

I spoke to @jcasman. We’ll send this feedback as well as the feedback you provided to people we know at RICOH.

Hello, any luck with Theta RAW image?

Regards
Andrew

Hello,

I am new to Theta. The reason I want to use it is that for VFX. So any luck with Theta V RAW image capability?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards
Andrew

1 Like

Currently does not support RAW images.

2 Likes

No to thrash what clearly looks like a dead horse but is there any news on the Theta V getting RAW capability?

The Z1 might have it but the price is way too high for a hobbyist like myself but all my other photography - drone & DSLR is all RAW.

Hi, I think it would be unlikely for the THETA V to get support for RAW. It might be better to wait and then try and get a used Z1.