Ricoh Theta X Sample Download
Ciara Geddis
Stitching on these sample photos looks very smooth, and although there is a drop in sharpness very close to the stitch line, it has far better consistency of sharpness compared to the Theta V or previous Thetas which had a noticeable decrease toward the stitch line. In this crop from the beach shot, we can see that the stitching is not only smooth, but that you can see fine details such as the threads on the beach towel, even at the stitch line.
The video quality on the samples seems to be underwhelming. The detail level is noticeably lower compared to 5.7K cameras in 2019. The contrast is also quite high, with very deep shadows. I took test shots in brighter light conditions which did not materially change the appearance of the videos. On the positive side, the videos can be edited to reduce contrast, which reveals a little more detail in shadows. However, see below re its low light video quality.
The Theta Z1 can shoot Raw+DNG. The DNG photos are saved as double circular fisheye photos. There are three ways the unstitched DNG photos can be stitched: (i) Lightroom and the Ricoh Stitcher plugin, the first of its kind in the 360 camera industry; (ii) PTGui version 11.3 or later, and (iii) the Theta Stitcher mobile workflow. These options are discussed below. You can try the options with the sample files above.
The output of the gst sample program can be used with the v4l2loopback kernel module to create V4L2 loopback devices that appear on /dev/video1 or /dev/video2. These devices can then be accessed by programs such as OpenPose.
- Grab the patched version of libuvc from GitHub.
- Clone libuvc-theta-sample from GitHub
- build and install libuvc. Make sure you build the patched branch.
- build the sample app
- Plug RICOH THETA into Linux USB port. Put into live mode with the mode button on the side of the camera or with the USB API for StillCaptureMode which you need to set to Live streaming with value 0x8005.
Camera support note: All models except m15 work with the API. However, there are minor differences between each model. This test is for the SC2. One important point about the SC2 is that it is using a slower MCU compared to the RICOH THETA V and Z1. The slower speed of the SC2 results in longer processing times for all API commands. This can cause significant problems if you run multiple API commands in sequence and do not check for completion of each command. There are extensive examples in this document and sample code that show how to use POST /osc/commands/status to verify that your previous API command is finished processing.
Affinity Photo uses Libraw to handle RAW files, and Libraw doesn't support the Theta Z1. Searching for HDR-DNG gives the impression that nobody's particularly interested in it! My assumption would be that LR support is provided by the same code that's included in Adobe's DNG converter - freely available and it handled your sample file OK, though it was very underexposed.
There's no doubt throwing a Panono camera in the air is quicker than taking 36 individual frames for stitching on your smartphone but the concept also offers a couple of advantages in terms of image quality. The stitching in the samples below is not quite perfect but visibly better than the results we've seen from smartphone-based solutions.
All the samples you can see below are from the prototype that was built in 2011. What we are seeing is already quite impressive but with improved processing algorithms and updated camera modules we can expect image quality on the final unit to be even better. You can find many more samples that were shot in some amazing places around the world on the Panono website.
We shot this sample during my visit just outside the Panono offices. It's not the most attractive scenery in the world but the good stitching is immediately obvious and zooming in reveals some additional detail. There are still some chromatic aberrations and lens flare but we would expect those issues to be better under control in the production unit.
This low-light sample was captured during an interview with the great Dirk Nowitzki after a Dallas Mavericks game in the locker rooms of American Airlines Arena. In dim conditions the Panono works best while mounted on a pole or tripod as slow shutter speeds and flying cameras are not an ideal combination.
overall, ricoh theta has better image quality than panono samples, panono seems to have very bad color rendition and an odd "honeycomb" vignetting pattern caused by the array of cheap lenses, theta is also smaller, lighter, and about half the panono's estimated price
You are right, the color of the prototype is not calibrated and there is a kind of vignetting effect with the old camera modules. Color will be properly calibrated with the production model of course and the vignetting is gone in the new modules. This is not magic, I just didn't focus on these things for my master thesis :) (the sample images we have online where all shot with the old prototype from my thesis)
definitely better colors on the panono eiffel tower pano than some others i had seen although i have seen sharper theta panos than that example too, looking forward to seeing some newer panono images from a production unit :)
theta can also show similar artifacts w dark vignetting seam areas and odd flare/glare from sun etc, in my experience this is caused by position of sun or other bright light relative the the lens, normally one would flag out the sun etc but this would not be practical for one shot cameras i suppose
Check out the sample images in our app, ideally on an iPad. The app is also called "Panono" and you can simply point your tablet or smartphone in the direction you want to see. I recommend an iPad for the best experience at the moment. Some people go _really_ crazy if you show them the app for the first time :) I also was blown away by a 3 year old who was twirling around the iPad around him like mad ;)
The resolution of 108 megapixels is really necessary to get useful images ;) Remember you spread that out on the whole sphere! You can check out our sample images online or download the free "Panono" app (try it with an iPad!). One example:
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