The Theta X is the first brand new 360 camera of 2022.
It shoots 60 megapixel, 360 photos.
It has a vastly improved 5.7K 360 video
and it fixes a lot of the problems
we've had over the years with Ricoh 360 cameras.
It's so good to see you all by the way,
new house, new background and new content coming soon.
So is the Theta X the new best 360 camera in 2022?
Well, before I answer that.
Here are 30 things you need to know about the Theta X.
Number one is the price it's 799 US dollars,
and in my opinion, totally worth it.
The release dates are between February and April
depending on where you are in the world,
but most places it will be March.
Taking a look at the design
and the first amazing feature they've added
is this 2.25 inch touch screen.
Nobody was expecting a touch screen from a Ricoh camera
but lo and behold, here it is.
And the screen is actually really good.
It's got multiple menus similar to the Insta360
and GoPro cameras, but the screen is bigger,
and as a result, easier to navigate.
It's very easy to preview your photos,
look around them and zoom in, great feature.
You'll notice that there's no button
on either side of the camera, that's because you take photos
by just tapping screen.
Now here's something we've all been asking for,
it's a removable battery, yay.
And right next to it, you guessed it,
that's a removable storage slot.
Finally, we can change the SD cards in Theta cameras
and to make it even sweeter,
the camera has 46 gigabytes of inbuilt storage.
So if you forget to put your memory card back in
that's okay, you can shoot using the internal storage
of the camera.
Again, it's got USB-C port,
but this time it's in a much better spot,
instead of being on the bottom, it's on the side.
Which means the charging port
and the quarter inch tripod thread,
aren't too close to each other.
Something else I noticed
is the camera doesn't feel that heavy,
compared to the Z1 it's noticeably lighter.
The camera has dual half inch sensors, which unfortunately,
is a downgrade from the Z1.
It has a fixed F2.4 aperture and performs well in low light.
One con of the design,
even though the removable battery is great,
it's not a big battery, it's 1350 milliamps,
So it probably won't last longer than one to two hours
of continuous use.
One way to avoid that is instead of connecting
wirelessly to your smartphone,
try operating the camera and changing the settings
exclusively through the camera.
Since connecting to your phone through wifi
does drain the battery quickly.
This will also so help prevent overheating.
Now let's move on to some of the specs
and the Theta X shoots, 60 megapixel, 360 photos.
That's a bit of a leap from 21 from the Theta Z1,
and the average being about 21 to 30 in 2022,
so that's more than double most 360 cameras.
Seriously, that is impressive resolution
and nobody was expecting it to be
that high from the next generation Theta.
I've taken some test photos and they are looking good.
One thing it improves over its predecessors,
is it has far less chromatic aberration.
While, it still has a little bit,
if this was taken with a previous Theta camera
both of those windows
would be completely lined with purple fringing.
I found the stitching to be good with the Theta X so far,
about on par with previous Theta cameras,
where it stitches well, not 100% perfectly,
and you may notice a slight softness
around both stitch lines.
This brings me to the first real downside,
and that, is it doesn't shoot raw.
The Z1 did, the X doesn't.
Which is slightly disappointing because the raw from the Z1
was truly incredible for a 360 camera, and really meant
you could take your editing to the next level.
That said, because it has such increased resolution
combined with using inbuilt HDR mode,
while I wouldn't normally recommend shooting JPEG only,
the Theta X gets away with it quite easily
and it handles highlights and shadows extremely well
as Theta cameras always have.
So that's a bummer, but those JPEGs look great.
The next thing you need to know
is that you can still use plug-ins with the Theta X.
In fact, the plug-in installation experience is far simpler
due to the added touch screen.,
you can swipe across to the plug-in store
and install the plug-ins directly from the camera.
That's pretty freaking cool,
because when you first set up your camera,
you're connecting it to your home's wifi
which means this camera
will get better and better over time,
even if Ricoh don't make the updates themselves,
you've got third party developers working in the background
adding new awesome features to this camera.
Unfortunately though, you can't use
the DualFisheye plug-in yet with the Theta X.
No doubt, the developer will work on
some kind of solution to that.
But the DualFisheye plug-in was a game changer for the Z1
because it automated the bracketing workflow
to happen at lightning speed.
That said, again the images look so good with the Theta X,
that you probably don't need it.
When it comes out, it will be great,
but it's not necessary to get up and running
and getting great shots with the Theta X straight away.
It has a built-in GPS, handy for Google Street View.
Next let's go over the video specs,
and it shoots 5.7K 360 video at 30 frames per second.
Which admittedly is very behind its time,
Insta360 have been doing 5.7K video for two plus years now,
so this isn't game changing resolution.
What is nice though,
is it brings the Ricoh image quality to 360 video.
Even though the Theta cameras
really are focused on 360 photography,
there's no question the way they've built the camera
can produce a superior image for both photos and videos.
That said there won't be that much of a difference
between the 5.7K video of the Theta X and the 5.7K video
of the Insta360 One X2 and One R.
It also does 4K at 60 frames per second,
which is nice if you like shooting at 60 FPS.
The higher frame rate
makes things feel that extra bit lifelike.
The maximum clip length when shooting 360 video
with the Theta X is 25 minutes.
Moving on to video stabilisation
and it's pretty average to be fair,
it's nowhere near the level of FlowState stabilisation
that Insta360 cameras have,
but if you hold your camera somewhat straight,
it will be good enough.
It's not super reliable though, even on a monopod
it can show visible signs of shake.
Overall though, I'm just gonna reiterate
it has great photo and video quality.
Another a great feature of the X, is it has
in-camera stitching for both 360 photos and 360 videos.
Taking one step of the workflow completely away,
Which is really nice, especially if you edit on desktop,
you literally just download
the photos and videos from the camera
and either colour correct them or upload them from there.
No stitching needed ever.
With the mobile workflow, I've also noticed
an improved wireless connection
between the camera and your phone,
which is helped by both wifi and Bluetooth
to connect within seconds.
I've also noticed they've made improvements
to the mobile app which is really good to see.
Right now viewing 360 videos on your phone is a bit limited,
because you can't preview 5.7K 30 videos
or 4K 60 videos on your phone.
They may or may not fix that,
but if you're someone that previews a lot,
this may be an issue.
You may be wondering how it compares to the Z1.
Well, I think the design is way better
and much more user friendly,
but also the images aren't that different.
Even when you use the best workflow possible with the Z1
which is using the DualFisheye plug-in
and carefully editing in Lightroom and other programs,
the image quality of the X without any editing
is still comparable.
I will make a proper comparison video soon,
so stay tuned for that.
So who is the Theta X for?
Well, it's for anyone that wants high quality 360 photos
with a bit of 360 video on the side.
Photography is definitely the priority with the Theta X,
so only consider buying it,
if you shoot more photos than videos,
or if you plan on offering 360 photography professionally
like in virtual tours.
I truly think this is an amazing virtual tour camera
because it has such high resolution,
great dynamic make range and a super fast workflow,
which is the trifecta
of awesome things a virtual tour photographer could want.
It's still, of course, not comparable
to a DSLR and a Panohead,
but it's one of the best consumer point and shoot
360 photo cameras to date.
If you're someone that shoots more 360 video
than 360 photos, though, I would go with Insta360 cameras.
Because their workflow is their major unique selling point,
it's so good, it makes shooting and editing so easy,
so I would recommend still going
with the latest Insta360 camera.
Comment below what you think of the Theta X.
Yay or nay.
I will acknowledge that, it's still early days as well
with the Theta X,
so i'll be sure to share any updated thoughts,
workflows and anything else
that comes up regarding this camera.
Until next time, this has been Mr. Ben
against his brand new background.
Peace out.