Oh I see, Thanks for the update I guess let’s wait and see I hope will be possible.
thanks for reply Craig!
I’m meeting with a manager of RICOH today and have this question on the agenda. He may not know himself if there is a technical limitation. For example, it’s possible that heat might be a consideration.
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The developer of this app is @Pixel on this forum.
He’s ordered a THETA X and plans to support the X model in the future.
The current HDRI app has a limitation of 9 brackets, but you can run two sets of brackets manually.
Does your workflow allow you to use a mobile app? Or, do you need the 18 brackets to be shot without a mobile app?
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Hi Craig,
Actually I’m on Android but the all point for me is to not use mobile app is all on the camera only with the 18/19 Bracketing like the V if is possible. is way easier and fast in terms of usage on the shooting days
Best,
Jo
In your usage, how long does the V take for each bracket? Is it 4 seconds per bracket (depending on exposure)? Or, is it sub-second per bracket.
I don’t normally use the bracket. I’m assuming that it is taking 4 seconds per bracket, but I wanted to confirm.
I don’t have the V I have the Z but on the Z and On X is really fast specially we do fast shutter for the lights and at the end is just one or two with 1 maybe 2 second shutter so is extremmelly fast on the X the bracketing of 13 all is about 5 seconds all brackets on 11K presumably extra 2 or 3 seconds for the extra sets of the 19 exposures on the Z is about 10 seconds all brackets with dng’s
Thank you for this additional information. I will report back to RICOH again next week with this additional information regarding the 18 or 19 brackets:
- better to be in-camera without using a mobile app for the convenience of the workflow
- fast time of completion for 19 brackets (10 seconds total for DNG images at 19 exposures)
- for the X, 13 brackets takes 5 seconds. Would like to take 19 brackets. Hoping for 7 or 8 seconds total for the X to take 19 brackets. This seems possible due to what is possible with the Z1, but only if the X has 19 brackets that can be taken quickly (each bracket is under 1 second)
I also have some additional information from the HDR app developer @Pixel that I will include in the report.
In the last meeting, we mistakenly thought that the brackets were taking 2 to 4 seconds per bracket and that the API to take a single picture could be used to take 19 separate shots in sequence despite the limitation of the 13 brackets in the X API.
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Thanks Craig for the help and report then appreciated the effort 
fingers crossed they can get something possible.
Best,
JO
The next meeting with RICOH is on Thursday. In the meantime, I got this comment from someone at Adobe supporting the development of Adobe Substance 3D.
Me: Would the HDRI quality be improved with the THETA X which shoots at 11K JPG images? Do you intend to get a THETA X for testing?
Adobe Substance 3D: For now, not in resolution. Sampler is limited to 4096x2048 export resolution for light envs.
Looks like the X is worse in minimum shutter speed than the Z1: only 1/16000 vs 1/25000. I’d not recommend it at all for that reason, you’ll have even less usable stops in outdoor settings (The Z1’s biggest limitation). Maybe there’s higher F-numbers on the X, but i can’t find that info online.
Thanks to @Pixel for giving me the tip to watch the Adobe Substance 3D video. I’m not experienced with the HDRI files for VFX and am learning about it in baby steps.
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Hi Craig,
Actually totally depend the light situation I always set the lower iso in this case at X “50” this is much less light and the F2.4, is some normal light scene the X has enough brackets for it but in low light scenes (usually used on studio for advertising) is okay but missing bright brackets to help.
For outside Sun light (really bright scene) of corse no 360 consumer camera can shoot that, included the Z because required more precision and fast and ND filters so on this case we use DSLR anyway (so for companies grabing HDRI outside to clean photogrammetry models well won’t work)
I will give you an user case, Today I used my X to shoot again a commercial HDRI for VFX to replace Laptop to a CGI one (big brand but I can mention the product yet)
Worked but I had to set extra slow shutter to get brighter sets this case the extra set would save me time. With one click and run all brackets.
Because those scenes was need to replace on live action table and etc the normal dslr rig is not great and to tested I tried with the Z in one shot and the X
Actually X was so easy with screen exchange battery I didn’t use the Z and I realise X had great results to not bad the jpgs 11k we tested and we was really happy with results, but of course because I had to change manually the 5 extra stops toke me sometime and director on the back saying we need move on and etc, but I have to say it was fast with X if I had all in one go would be more faster and on shooting with actors make up products clients fast is best.
Cheers,
Jo
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Thanks for this additional use case. I will put it in the agenda for the RICOH meeting.
appreciate the additional information.
Thanks Craig, my apologies for the quickly writing and bad English haha as I still on shooting.
Looking forward what they can do with all info
Hi Craig,
Any news on the multi-bracket? from your meeting with Ricoh.
Best,
JO
We ran out of time in the meeting last Thursday. I hope to cover it today.
Thanks for fast reply, Thank you I hope you have time to raise this request.
Cheers,
JO
Hi Craig,
any news about the bracketing on Theta X or if they will give us a way of unstitched images so we could use ptgui to get more consistent stitches?
We discussed this requirement for more brackets on the X as well as unstitched images on the brackets.
RICOH has not made an official statement on upcoming features.
However, my personal guess is that unfortunately, at the current time, there are no plans to have these features in the next few firmware updates. Additionally, it is not clear if there is a technical limitation with the memory for the continuous shooting (burst bracket mode). The THETA V may have increased the bracket count based on user feedback, but the THETA V images are much smaller with each image taking up less memory.
Hi Craig,
Thanks for the info and the help, I guess the stitch would be easier but the extra bracket may be harder as you said cause the memory, my guess they may try and see or maybe is straight imposible let see.
thanks again!
JO
I believe the RICOH staff will try different things based on your feedback and feedback from the community for VFX and photogrammetry. However, I want to be realistic about what to expect so that it doesn’t negatively impact buying decisions.
The team at RICOH are busy with stabilizing the THETA X core features as the camera recently launched. I feel that it is unlikely that we can expect any updates in the bracketing or stitching in the next few firmware releases.
Realistically, although the community feedback is very much appreciated and valued, the requests from large customers are going to take priority. I feel that any company would operate the same way.
The good news is that there is a channel to get your feedback to management. However, I do not believe we will get a clear response in the next month or two.
The exception to this would be if there was an existing fix or if there is a bug in the expected core functionality.
If I hear anything, I will report back.
@JO_CG curious what your work around has been , every cg sup has different asks, its a shame Ive tried to roll out the theta x for our onset sups , but it seems that low end (darker set) is problematic and the range is sadly not there at 16000 shutter speed.