360Photography

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  • Leica and ONA introduce more luxury bags for the red-dot-obsessed

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    Leica and bag-maker ONA Bags have teamed up again, this time to launch a new premium lineup of exclusive camera bags called the ‘ONA for Leica’ collection. This new lineup is composed of half a dozen camera bags that will be available solely through Leica Camera AG, each of them featuring a red rivet and red lining, as well as space for Leica camera gear and, in some cases, other accessories and personal items as well.

    The new collection is composed of ‘The Bowery for Leica’ bag, ‘The Prince Street for Leica,’ ‘The Brixton for Leica,’ ‘The Berlin II for Leica,’ ‘The Camps Bay for Leica,’ and ‘The Roma for Leica.’ Though they all share a similar style, each bag is unique in its offerings, and some are available in multiple versions. There are five versions of ‘The Brixton,’ for example, while some of the others bags — particularly ‘The Camps Bay’ and ‘The Roma’ — are larger and more practical with less design variations. Both waxed Italian leather and waterproof canvas bags are offered in the collection.

    ONA’s website currently only lists the The Bowery for Leica bag, which is $ 279. Pricing for the other bags in this collection isn’t clear at this time. Availability is set for November.

    PRESS RELEASE

    Leica Camera and ONA present an exclusive collection of high-quality, premium camera bags

    13 October 2016: Leica Camera has today announced the ‘ONA FOR LEICA’ collection of high quality camera bags.

    To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the legendary 35mm camera in 2014, ONA – an American manufacturer of premium camera bags – created ‘The Berlin II’, a bag designed especially for the Leica M-System. As a follow-up to this collaboration, the two companies have once again joined together to present the ‘ONA FOR LEICA’ collection, featuring six distinctive models crafted by ONA. Each piece will be lined in red and will feature a red rivet, as a discreet reference to Leica. The series will be offered exclusively by Leica Camera AG in a range of materials and colour combinations.

    The Bowery for Leica: This special edition of ‘The Bowery for Leica’ camera bag represents a mutual commitment to the creation of exceptional products for photographers from both ONA and Leica. The bag is specially designed to provide stylish and practical protection for Leica camera equipment. Two of the five models are crafted from finest quality Italian leather with a lightly waxed finish. The remaining three models are made from a robust and waterproof canvas fabric. With five compartments, it offers enough space for a Leica M-Camera, one to two M-Lenses and various personal possessions or accessories. By detaching the carrying strap, the bag turns into a useful, padded insert for safely stowing camera equipment in a larger bag or case. Its cleverly designed features, variable storage options, compact size and minimalist design make it the perfect universal and modern camera bag.

    The Prince Street for Leica: Combining the look of a casual shoulder bag with the practical advantages of a camera bag, ‘The Prince Street for Leica’ offers a unique messenger style. Two models in finest leather and three in robust canvas with real leather trim offer generous capacity for photographic equipment. The two retro-styled clip-buckles ensure that the bag’s valuable contents are safely locked away. Six compartments allow an M-Camera with two to three lenses, an 11-inch laptop or tablet PC and other accessories to be safely and unobtrusively stowed away.

    The Brixton for Leica: This sophisticated bag has been designed to be particularly spacious, and is available in five different versions. The ‘Antique Cognac’ and ‘Dark Brown’ models are created from the finest Italian leather, with a wax finish. The water-repellent waxed canvas of the other three bags in the collection keeps cameras and equipment safely protected. All five hand-crafted models offer multiple practical features, numerous outer pockets and compartments and flexible storage space with room for a camera, two to three lenses, small personal items and even a 13-inch laptop computer. The bags are available in water-repellent canvas in the colours ‘Black’, ‘Field Tan’ and ‘Smoke’ (water-repellent canvas) and in real leather in ‘Antique Cognac’ and ‘Dark Truffle’.

    The Berlin II for Leica: This exclusive bag is hand-made from finest Italian leather in the colours ‘Black’ or ‘Vintage Bourbon’ and has been specifically designed for the Leica M-System. The premium leather style offers space for one camera, two to three lenses and small accessories, and develops a unique patina during years of use that reflects its truly unique character. Additional storage space inside the bag makes it particularly flexible. Lined in iconic Leica red, four dividers can be used to adapt the space to meet specific needs and can be completely removed, if required. The Berlin II, available in a choice of ‘Black’ or ‘Vintage Bourbon’ leather, offers space for documents in a compartment on the back and features a front pocket with a zip-fastener for storing small personal items.

    The Camps Bay for Leica: This stylish, high-capacity rucksack in water-repellent canvas and real leather appliqués is perfect for transporting a wide range of camera equipment, comfortably and flexibly. The space inside can be adapted to meet the needs of the owner’s individual products or to make room for additional accessories. The padded main compartment provides space for the safe storage of one camera with up to seven lenses and a 17-inch laptop computer, while smaller items can be secured away in a pocket with a zip-fastener on the front. Both the straps and the back of this ‘Smoke’ coloured canvas rucksack are padded and covered with breathable fabric, to ensure complete comfort when on the move.

    The Roma for Leica: This practical insert with five compartments transforms almost any standard bag into a camera bag. The robust, water-repellent canvas material offers optimum protection for valuable equipment and features real leather grips to make it easier to remove from bags. This cleverly-designed combination of bag and organiser is the ideal solution for photographers looking for a smart way to carry a single camera, one lens and a couple of small accessories.

    About ONA

    ONA is a purveyor of fine bags and accessories designed for, and inspired by, photographers and creative professionals. Each bag is meticulously hand-crafted from the highest quality materials, conveniently sized, built to last for years, with a particularly attractive, minimalist design. The bags provide durable protection for precious Leica cameras and lenses while reflecting the photographer’s inimitable personal style.

    Availability and pricing

    The ONA FOR LEICA Collection is scheduled to be available from November 2016 from Leica Stores and Boutiques. Pricing will be confirmed from the date of availability.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Monsoon III: Time-lapse captures the raw power of a monsoon

     
    You may remember Mike Olbinski’s storm chasing thriller Vorticity from July and, unsurprisingly, he’s back at it again. This time around he chased storms over the course of 36 days during the 2016 monsoon season in the Southwest. Though he says it was somewhat of a slower season in terms of activity, you wouldn’t know it from the time-lapse video that he put together. This is definitely worth a watch in full-screen HD with the lights turned off. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM galleries: Roller derby and daylight base ISO samples

    Our friend James McDaniel recently put Sony’s premium stabilized telezoom to the test, first in low light shooting roller derby WFTDA Playoff action and later in daylight, shooting at base ISO. This lens features built-in image stabilization and uses a linear motor to acquire focus quickly and silently, which could be real benefits to all kinds of photographers. We’ll be adding to the base ISO gallery as soon as we catch a break from the rainy Seattle weather. Until then, enjoy the two galleries below:

    Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM Daylight Base ISO Samples

    Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM at Roller Derby Playoffs

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Modified Nikon D5500 keeps things cool for astro-photographers

    Italian astrophotography equipment brand PrimaLuceLab is selling a version of the Nikon D5500 that it has adapted for long exposures using a custom cooling system that manages the temperature of the camera’s sensor. The PrimaLuceLab Nikon D5500a Cooled uses dual Peltier cells to create a thermoelectric cooling effect that allows users to maintain the temperature of the sensor and to cool it by as much as 27°C below the ambient air temperature.

    Keeping the sensor cool allows long exposures to take place without the sensor heating up and creating image noise. This means very long shutter openings can be used to make images with very little additional noise. Just as importantly, the cooling system can keep the sensor at the same user-specified temperature throughout a shoot so that dark frames don’t have to be made directly after each image – they can be made at the end when the subject has passed.

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    The camera is also fitted with a system that prevents air moisture from condensing on the surface of the cooled sensor. The Anti-Dewing system heats the front filter over the sensor but not the sensor itself. Presenting a warm surface to the air means no moisture gathers. The infrared-cut filter of the Nikon D5500 has been removed and replaced by a filter that allows longer red wave lengths, specifically those beyond the H-alpha line, to pass and be recorded.

    Touch sensitive buttons on the rear of the cooling block allow users to control the shutter opening and shutter time as well as set up sequences of different exposures with brackets of up to 900 seconds.

    The PrimaLuceLabs Nikon D5500a, which comes with a 4-year warranty, is available now and costs €2190 (about $ 2420).

    For more information visit the PrimaLuceLab website.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • A look at Google Pixel’s sensor reveals potential HDR video tech

    Example of a sensor pattern with spatially varying exposure, in which pixels of the same color receive differing amounts of light. (From the Computer Vision Laboratory at Columbia University.)

    Steven Zimmerman over at XDA Developers has just published an article with some insights into the Sony IMX378 sensor used in Google’s recently announced Pixel smartphones. Although he covers a number of technologies likely familiar to DPReview readers, such as stacked BSI-CMOS technology and on-sensor phase detect autofocus, there’s an interesting section on Spatially Multiplexed Exposure (SME-HDR) which has the potential to provide improved HDR video capture. It’s an interesting read, and one worth taking a look at if you’re interested in sensor technology.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Throwback Thursday: Fujifilm F10

    Back in the film era it was perfectly possible to buy a compact camera that could match an SLR in image quality terms. Sure, you might lose out on some advanced features, and for the most part you were stuck with a fixed lens, but deep inside, whether you were shooting with an Olympus XA or an OM1, the image was formed on a frame of 35mm film.

    Fast forward to the mid-2000s and photographers without the need – or funds – for one of the new breed of ‘affordable’ (sub-$ 1000) consumer DSLRs had to swallow a much more serious compromise. The minuscule sensors found in pretty much every model on the market in 2005 meant cameras that were limited to around ISO 320 or 400 (or if they went higher, they did so using hideous pixel-binning techniques – more on that later).

    It’s no coincidence that smartphones, which use similarly diminutive sensors (though with the advantage of a decade of hardware and ISP development) still suffer from similar limitations when shooting in anything less than bright daylight. On top of the terrible low-light performance, all but the best compacts in 2005 were also still plagued by slow operation and poor battery life. Things were getting better, slowly, but the inability to produce decent results in low light was not one of them.

    As someone who had spent nearly every waking hour testing, shooting with and writing about compact digital cameras since the late 1990s, by 2005 I was resigned to the fact that I was going to have to wait a long, long time before I could enjoy the convenience of a small camera without having to restrict my shooting to daylight hours. And that’s why I will always have a place in my heart for the subject of this week’s TBT: the Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom; it gave me hope. Hope that technology could, in fact, rid the compact camera of its Achilles’ Heel, and that one day, perhaps, a point-and-shoot wouldn’t turn into a ‘point-and-pray’ as soon as the sun went down. It was also the camera I used to take the first picture of my first child just after he was born, which probably adds a little extra rose-tinting to my memory of the F10.

    Hidden talents

    The camera itself is – and was at the time – unassuming, unremarkable even. Its design was boxy and inelegant (certainly compared to some of the sleek, slim models it was competing with at the time), it had no manual controls to speak of and its lens, a 38-108mm F2.8-5.0 equivalent zoom, was nothing to write home about (by this time 28mm zooms were becoming much more common). And although it had a larger (1/1.7”) sensor than most of its competitors, by the time it launched in February 2005 the premium compact market was already moving from 7MP to 8MP, making the F10’s 6MP output a hard sell in a market defined almost exclusively by megapixel counts.

    FinePix F10 Zoom: In good light detail and color were excellent

    And then there was the fact that the FinePix F10 sported yet another iteration of Fujfilm’s proprietary ‘SuperCCD’ technology, which used a novel honeycomb pixel layout and had, in previous generations, promised a lot more than it actually delivered – most controversially by scaling up the sensor output to produce files with double the megapixels actually used to capture the image. The general consensus about SuperCCD was that although the technology was certainly impressive, the obvious interpolation artefacts and ugly noise reduction made it far less groundbreaking than the marketing materials suggested.

    All such concerns were forgotten when we started testing and using the FinePix F10 Zoom. Not only did the new 6.3MP SuperCCD HR sensor outperform many seven and eight megapixel conventional CCD cameras in bright light, it offered high ISO performance that – though perhaps unimpressive by today’s standards – set a new bar for what a small sensor could produce.

    Back in 2005 very few compacts even offered an ISO 800 or ISO 1600 option. Those that did were either painfully noisy or offered a very low resolution, very low fidelity pixel-binned mess.

    It’s worth remembering that in 2005 most compact cameras didn’t even offer settings above ISO 400, and those that did used destructive hardware and software tricks to get there (the most common being pixel-binning, which produces results so horribly lacking in detail that we rarely had anything to say about them beyond ‘I guess in an tight spot it’s better than nothing’).

    The FinePix F10 Zoom’s surprisingly capable high ISO performance wasn’t just down to the unique design of its SuperCCD sensor (though the efficient pixel design certainly helped); the 5th Generation ‘Real Photo Processor’ (the ‘brains’ of the capture hardware) was critical, too.

    In the same way as modern Smartphones owe much of their improved image quality to advances in signal processing (the hardware itself is limited by cost and the laws of physics), Fujifilm had taken a big step towards overcoming the limitations of a small sensor in low light and the result was nothing short of revolutionary. Even flash exposures (which were again controlled by the new Real Photo Processor) were streets ahead of most competitors.

    ISO 800 – remarkably usable for a 2005 compact camera

    And it wasn’t just the image quality that impressed. Despite looking like a truck, the F10 performed like a sports car, with (for 2005) very short startup times, fast focus and, thanks to a huge lithium-ion power pack, class-leading 500-shot per charge battery life. This really was the compact camera equivalent of a sleeper car.

    Room for improvement

    Of course it wasn’t all good news – using the camera today I am reminded of just how ugly Fuji’s user interface was back then, how crappy low res screens look, and just how limited the feature set of the F10 was (even by 2005 standards) – though I would add that the performance (speed) and image quality have both held up better than the camera itself. Perhaps the biggest annoyance was the use of a separate ‘terminal adapter’ – Fuji’s designers apparently couldn’t fit A/V, charging and USB ports into the F10’s body (or maybe they forgot and it was too late to fix), so they were supplied separately on an easily misplaced dongle thing.

    The genius that was the ‘Terminal Adapter’.

    The F10 also used Fujifilm and Olympus’s proprietary xD Picture Cards (introduced a couple of years earlier) for storage. xD, the unwanted successor to the awful, unreliable SmartMedia card, was slower, less capacious and more expensive than the most common format (at the time CompactFlash, itself soon to be displaced by SD cards in compact cameras).

    In 2005 this was as good as ISO 1600 got from a small sensor

    If I remember correctly, the FinePix F10 didn’t do that well for Fujifilm – it was hard to sell a 6MP camera against similarly-priced but slimmer, prettier, more feature-laden 7 and 8MP competitors. And, inevitably, it wasn’t long before every compact camera added high ISO options that, despite essentially being so bad they should’ve been classified as crimes against photography, were easily spun by marketing teams into ‘amazing low light sensitivity’.

    The FinePix F10 was eventually succeeded by the F30 – considered by many to be one of the few real ‘classics’ of the compact point-and-shoot era.

    However, it earned a loyal following and over time Fujifilm ironed out some of the kinks – the FinePix F11 followed quickly, adding aperture and shutter priority modes and a higher resolution screen. In 2006 Fujifilm launched the FinePix F30, which offered even better low light performance at up to ISO 3200, and is considered by many to be one of the few ‘classics’ produced during consumer digital photography’s frenetic first decade.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Ansel Adams’ Arca-Swiss 4×5 View Camera is the first of its kind at auction

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    Heritage Auctions will soon be the first auction house to ever offer an Ansel Adams 4×5 view camera. The camera is part of a complete outfit including an Arca-Swiss 4×5 View Camera, three lenses, a pair of Graflex graphic film pack adapters, compendium lens hood, extra bag bellows, Wratten gelatin filters, a dark cloth, original carrying/shipping case, tripod and more. 

    This view camera collection was used by Ansel Adams from 1964 to 1968, according to the auction house, after which point he gave the camera to his then-assistant Liliane de Cock, who used it as part of her own career. The camera and related accessories were acquired directly from the photographer’s family. Heritage Auction doesn’t list the condition, saying only that it is ‘available upon request.’ However, it estimates the lot as being worth between $ 70,000 and $ 100,000, and is seeking an opening bid of $ 35,000.

    You can view the auction listing here.

    Via: PetaPixel

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Google adds auto image rotation, GIF creation to Photos app

    Google has added four new features enhancing its Photos app for iOS and Android.

    The first two features are similar in that they highlight photos related to specific people. A ‘Rediscover your memories’ feature will dig up old pictures of people who have appeared in more recent images. A ‘Recent highlights’ option will bring up a ‘card’ showing the best photos of a subject you’ve taken pictures of recently, such as a baby.

    Perhaps a more useful feature is the ability to rotate images to the correct orientation, as illustrated above.

    Finally, the Photos app can analyze videos you’ve taken to find ‘action’ and then turn it into an animated GIF.

    Google blog via Droid Life

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Leica announces special edition M-P in red table tennis bat rubber

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    Leica is to introduce a special M-P (Typ 240) kit that has been designed by the artist Rolf Sachs. The bundle will include a Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH lens and SF40 flash unit, and the body will be covered in the type of rubber usually reserved for table tennis bats. The red rubber will have the raised pips that table tennis players use to spin and control the ball, which Leica suggests will give the camera sure handling – and the nickname M-P ‘Grip’.

    Sachs says on his website, ‘Our primary goal in designing the camera was driven by a utilitarian approach, seeking a specialist grip material that would respond to the scale of the camera with millimetre precision. Following in-depth research into materials that have strong ‘gripping’ properties and are traditionally applied in other manufacturing industries, we decided on a red ‘ping pong’ rubber, usually used on table tennis bats. This material adds practical tactility to the camera, while simultaneously creating an entirely new haptic experience.’

    Not only is the body-cover red, but the company has used red paint in the engraved markings on the top plate dials as well as on the distance scale and focal length markings on the barrel of the lens.

    The camera, lens and flash kit will come in a hard carry case and will be accompanied by a pair of brushes designed to keep the textured surface of the camera clean.

    Only 79 kits will be produced world-wide, and when they become available in November they will be priced at $ 14,950/£12,500.

    For more information see the Leica website.

    Press Release:

    Special edition: Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs

    Legendary rangefinder technology meets creative design

    In collaboration with artist and Leica photographer Rolf Sachs, Leica has unveiled a new special edition within its M-series camera portfolio: the Leica M-P (Typ 240) “grip” by Rolf Sachs.

    This exclusive set comprises a Leica M-P camera body, together with a classic, fast Leica Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. lens, and unites the company’s legendary rangefinder technology with an exceptionally creative product design. With its unusual finish and striking choice of colour, combined with Leica’s classic camera styling, this unique set is destined to become a true collector’s item. The Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs special edition will be strictly limited to just 79 sets globally.

    “For many photographers over many years, the Leica M has been a passionate love affair! Its functionality and iconic design attracts me as an artist and an avid user. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to ‘undress’ the camera and create a new look – surprising, as well as functional. Applying a material that has never been used before as an easy-to-grip camera surface created a striking aesthetic, and a unique tactility,” says Rolf Sachs.

    With the Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs, the artist chose to modify several features of the Leica M-P rangefinder in black paint finish, delivering the unique style he envisaged for the camera. For the main body finish, Sachs selected a material that is most frequently used in the production of table tennis bats. Applied to the camera body, the raised red nubs of this rubber trim lend the otherwise subtle and simple appearance of the M a distinctive and extraordinary look and feel – while also creating a completely new haptic experience.

    Several elements on the top plate have been harmonised with the colour scheme of the camera trim. The engravings on the accessory shoe, shutter speed dial, on/off switch, video button and shutter release button are highlighted in red, rather than the usual white.

    A ‘Rolf Sachs’ logo graces the back of the top plate as the designer’s signature mark, while the individual special edition number of each camera is engraved on the hot shoe. Furthermore, the engraved settings on the lens are also partly accentuated in red.

    The Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs set is presented in a hard black outdoor case containing the camera, the lens, a black cotton carrying strap and a Leica SF 40 flash unit. Also included in this limited edition set are a special brush for cleaning the rubber camera trim, as well as a high-quality brush and cloth to keep the exterior of the camera and lens in premium condition.

    Delivering the same high performance and technical specifications of the equivalent production model, the Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs special edition offers the benefits of the latest Leica digital rangefinder system with its famously robust and enduring qualities.

    With its moderate wide-angle properties and natural reproduction of perspectives, the Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. is one of the most versatile lenses in the Leica M-System portfolio. From selective focus in the close-up range to high-contrast available-light applications and landscape shots, with immense depth of field, the lens delivers exceptional results in any photographic situation.

    The long-standing collaboration and strong relationship between Leica and Rolf Sachs is founded on a multitude of projects. Most recently, ‘Camera in Motion: from Chur to Tirano’, an impressive exhibition showing Sachs’ work shot with a Leica S, was displayed at the Leica Galleries in Salzburg and Wetzlar.

    About Rolf Sachs

    Rolf Sachs was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1955. He studied in England and the USA, and found inspiration in the art around him from the early years of his youth, becoming an artist himself in the late nineteen-eighties. His creative genres include photography, sculpture, set-design and installations. Inspired by everyday objects and their materiality, he searches for the unusual and unconventional within them, and brings them to light in the unique conceptual expression of his multidisciplinary works.

    Pricing and availability

    The Leica M-P “grip” by Rolf Sachs special edition will be available at Leica Stores and selected authorised Leica dealers in the UK from November 2016, at a suggested retail price of £12,500 including VAT.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Ricoh debuts colorful Theta SC

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    Ricoh has announced the latest member of its 360-degree camera family, the Theta SC. The SC is essentially a stripped-down version of the Theta S. It offers the same twin spherical lenses with 14MP sensors behind them, but with a five minute limit on Full HD video capture and no HDMI port.

    The Theta SC continues to offer smartphone control with live view and sharing on theta360.com and popular social media sites, and the company is updating its app to be more user-friendly. Its 360-degree images can also be viewed in VR headsets such as the Samsung Gear VR, and the 8GB of built-in memory can store up to 1600 images.

    The Theta SC will be available next month in beige, blue, pink and white at a price of $ 299/£249.

    Press release:

    RICOH UNVEILS THETA SC: A FULL-FEATURED 360-DEGREE CAMERA DESIGNED TO APPEAL TO A BROAD RANGE OF CONSUMERS

    Newest addition to Ricoh’s pioneering Theta line makes it easy for anyone to shoot and share high-quality spherical stills and videos, available in four colors

    WEST CALDWELL, NJ, October 12, 2016 – Ricoh Imaging Americas Corp. today announced it has added a full-featured, affordably-priced mid-range model to its pioneering line of Theta 360-degree spherical imaging cameras. Merging advanced imaging capabilities with simplified operation, the new Ricoh Theta SC is designed to appeal to the growing numbers of consumers interested in capturing and sharing 360-degree photos and videos.

    Market demand for cameras that capture immersive imagery is on the rise, and experts predict that devices required for augmented- and virtual-reality experiences—such as 360-degree cameras and VR headsets—will be at the top of consumers’ holiday 2016 gift lists.

    Ricoh offers the industry’s most extensive line of spherical imaging cameras, known for their high image quality, sleek design and ease of use. First introduced in 2013, Theta cameras are unique in their ability to allow consumers to record fully spherical images that show the entirety of a scene in photos or videos. The pocket-sized Theta SC is the fourth-generation Theta, joining the award-winning, top-of-the-line Theta S and entry-level Theta m15 series cameras.

    Like its predecessors, the Theta SC boasts a stylish and sleek design, lending itself to quick and convenient operation. The camera can be handheld with one-button operation or placed on a flat surface or tripod to be remotely controlled by a smartphone and the newly updated Theta S app. It comes in a range of attractive colors including beige, blue, pink and white for a wide range of users.

    The Theta SC delivers the same high level of image quality provided the Ricoh Theta S—with a high-performance CMOS image sensor and large-aperture dual lenses—in a more lightweight package. It captures 14-megapixel, high-resolution stills and records high-definition (HD) video clips up to five minutes in duration, in keeping with consumers’ interest in shooting and sharing short video clips. The resulting spherical images can be easily uploaded to the dedicated theta360.com website; posted and shared via Facebook, Google+, Google Maps and YouTube, as well as shared via Twitter and Tumblr.

    With the introduction of the Theta SC, Ricoh is also unveiling an updated Theta S app for iOS and Android devices. The newly updated Theta app is designed to be even easier to use— making capturing, viewing, managing and sharing fully spherical imagery a snap.

    “Our goal is that the Theta SC will introduce more people to 360-degree spherical imaging,” said Kaz Eguchi, president, Ricoh Imaging Americas Corp. “With the growing popularity of immersive imagery, augmented and virtual reality, we wanted to produce a high-quality camera at an affordable price point that appeals to anyone who is interested in capturing and sharing the world around them in this new, exciting digital imaging format.”

    | Pricing and Availability |
    The Ricoh Theta SC is now at www.ricohimaging.com and retail outlets nationwide for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $ 299.95.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)