Ricoh’s email to announce the new Theta m15 sounded interesting, so I asked if they would send me a review unit for a few weeks.
The overall experience was a pleasant one, and family and friends really enjoyed the images – the Theta is a great parlour trick, and very useful at the dinner table. I used a table tripod and a long selfie stick, using the app to control the camera using my phone. Opening and closing at Toronto’s Sugar Beach. My bike rides are along Toronto’s Martin Goodman Trail, west of the Humber – one of my favourite scenic rides. Argo dancers at Yonge and Dundas.
I typically post images on flickr – that doesn’t seem appropriate here. If you’d like to look at some files, send me a DM and I’ll share a dropbox folder with some samples. The theta viewer (available for multiple platforms) can be downloaded from the theta web site.
My on-camera bits recorded with the Sony NEX VG20 with the SEL16-70 lens. On camera audio Sennheiser ew100 g2 kit. The on camera video and audio in the second shot is from the theta. Voice over recorded using the Rode NT-USB. The theta video (.mov ,H.264, 1920×1080 with LPCM) was imported, transcoded upon opening by the theta player (.mp4, H.264, 1920×1080 with AAC) – the .mp4 file is marginally smaller. Recorded from the screen using quicktime, (2036×1476 – the onscreen size and dimensions of the player) imported and fit into Final Cut 10.2. Ambient audio replaced from the original theta file. I have the feeling all that processing may reduce the quality of the playback by the time it gets to you. Feel free to ask me for originals, as above.
Thanks to Doug White for his behind the camera and prompter work, he also took several of the theta images in the video.
The camera was on loan, and has been returned. I am not affiliated with or compensated by Ricoh, or any camera or other device manufacturer.
As always, if there are any details I’ve overlooked, I welcome (and reply to) your comments and questions.
