See life in 360°

> Ricoh’s new Theta S camera lets you view the world in a new light, with spherical and immersive images

RICOH today is well known for making office appliances. However, among its line of products is a unique compact camera that is capable of taking a photo of everything around it at a press of a button.

The Japanese company was the first to launch a consumer pointand-shoot camera for spherical images, known as the Theta, back in 2013.

Recently, Ricoh introduced the Theta S, its third and most premium iteration of the Theta camera.

Its candy bar shape and satin smooth black exterior houses four buttons and five LED indicators.

At the side are three buttons: one for power, one for WiFi, and one for switching between photo and video modes.

On the face of the camera, underneath one of its two f2.0 lenses, is the shutter button.

By design, the Theta S takes the complicated process of capturing and creating spherical photos and videos down to a single button press.

It starts taking pictures and videos right out of the box. Everything is stored in its internal 8GB storage. Still, I suggest you first connect the Theta S to a PC, download the basic app and update the camera’s firmware.

This will add new features to the camera, most notably the selftimer and time-lapse photo capabilities.

Not only did Ricoh make the Theta S easy to use, but photos and video taken using the camera are easy to share.

They can be uploaded to the Theta 360 website, or shared to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, or posted to Google Maps, Google+, and YouTube.

The Theta S employs the Google-supported Open Spherical Camera API for full compatibility with Google services as well.

However, I found that 8GB worth of space is limited. It does not help that storage is not expandable.

To extend its capabilities, the Theta S can be paired with a smartphone via WiFi and an app. This lets the camera transfer large files to the phone at high speeds, and from there, share it. The app also allows users to use their phone as a viewfinder.

I did not find the viewfinder feature all that useful, as the camera is going to capture everything around it anyway.

Nevertheless, the preview helps if I attached the camera to a monopod, tripod, or placed it on a flat surface to take a picture remotely using the phone app, without me being in the picture.

The app also gives users access to the camera’s manual controls. It is a nice feature, but I rarely used it.

Photos and videos taken using the Theta S look good, but not as excellent as a high- end multi-camera setup.

Using the Theta+ and Theta+ video phone apps to clean things up helps. These apps can also turn your spherical photos and videos into flat images or .gif files.

One thing worth noting is that because of the twinlens design, you have to be extra careful how you store the Theta S. It comes with a padded sleeve, and it is highly recommended that the camera is stored there when not in use.

More than a novelty, Ricoh Theta S is the simplest way to take fully-immersive photos or videos for sharing online.

If you are into creating VR content, love cool camera gadgets, or just want an easy way to take spherical media, look no further.

The Ricoh Theta S is sold at Ricoh authorised dealers nationwide, and at the Ricoh eStore for RM1,536.80.