THETA Z1 51GB

[Update 22MAY19] OK after a couple of weeks now I'm more impressed than I was as I've had a chance to test the camera properly in some very challenging situations. The ability to recover detail in the shadows and highlights is incredibly important. This can only be done because of the raw files. The noise in very dark and ultra-high contrast environments is completely acceptable and it's possible to recover even disastrously underexposed images into something that can at least illustrate the thing you were trying to shoot. These disasters are very noisy, no question, but they still contain good information. This is something that was impossible with the JPEG only cameras. Flare resistance is frankly amazing. Bright sunlight appears to have zero impact upon the camera. There's no exposure difference across the two lenses. The colour rendition is excellent. There will always be some chromatic aberration due to the nature of the lenses but LR corrects that easily, it's a lot less aberration than the Theta S. The video footage is much cleaner than the Theta S and contains what feels like a lot more detail. Battery life is not fabulous, I managed to get it down from 100% to 15% in about an hour and a half of stills shooting. The sleep mode is useful here as you don't have to power down the camera completely which means it responds to power up a lot more quickly. The protective sock that comes with the camera is quite good at protecting it in use, just don't get any sand in there or you'll scratch the lenses. As with the Theta S, storage is not upgradeable or removable by the user (unless you search for ways to do it on the web and thereby invalidate your warranty by doing so) and with the increased resolution and the better video you might start filling up fast. A JPEG is about 8Mb and the corresponding raw file is about 47Mb. So for one picture you're taking up the equivalent of 7 times the space needed by one. I'll update again when I have something more to report. [/Update] Been playing with the Z1 for several hours now after it was delivered today. First thing to notice is that it's thicker than the Theta S and heavier, although not by much. It's made of metal and has a very high quality feel to it in the hand. The two lenses are bigger than the S and it also has an OLED display for settings which I have just realised automatically dims in low light. I bought the Z1 for the increased resolution but mostly because it will shoot in raw. That's where the sensor data is recorded directly to the card without being turned into a JPEG. This means you can adjust the image exposure much more than you could with a JPEG. To do that however you'll need a program that will edit raw files. I'm using LR but there are plenty of others out there. Taking photos with it is just as easy as the other Theta cameras in that you power it on, which takes a couple of seconds until it's ready whereas the Theta S is ready to go almost instantly, then press the shutter button on the camera, it beeps, and you've taken a photo. Easy. It is controllable from your smartphone with all the usual settings you can control there including the switch from JPEG only to Raw+JPEG and GPS tagging. One thing to note is that the preview image on the phone is far better than the Theta S, it's much higher resolution and it updates more smoothly. I think it's using the 5GHz wi-fi for this rather than the old 2.4GHz. Transferring images from the device to the phone via the Theta app is extremely quick. It must be 5 times faster than the Theta S. Although you can't transfer the raw files to the phone. But as it's taken a JPEG along with the raw file that's no problem, you just transfer the JPEG instead. Connecting it to the phone is easier than the old way of connecting to the camera's wi-fi before using the app. Now it's all done in the app and after me typo-ing the serial about 10 times I finally got it right and it connected straight away. It's USB C and you get a cable in the box but you can get excellent and inexpensive ones from Amazon. File transfer speed to the PC are also extremely fast. Image quality is a significant step up from the Theta S. The resolution is about 25% higher but the main thing is the larger sensor which means much less noise. That lower noise is very noticeable when taking images indoors under domestic lighting. It's pouring down with rain at the moment so I've not had a chance to get it outside and take some shots. I'll update when I've done that. There's a pouch in the box for the camera but I'm going to get a hard case for it now. The pouch is good, the one for the Theta S was also good, but I want a bit more protection, and I'm looking for a lens cap. When the silicone covers come out I'll get one of those for it too. Thus far I'm impressed. It feels good, it's easy to use, and the image quality really is much better. It's still by far and away the most useful 360 camera available. So easy to use.

This is a very very good 'still' image 360 Camera. It does take video but I would not recommend you buying it for that purpose. There are plenty of 360 action type video cameras around and other models within the Ricoh range that are better suited for that. You do need to read very carefully the manual to set it up and take shots. It is 'NOT' intuitive. There is also a smartphone App to assist. I would recommend watching the various YouTube videos that are available and once you understand the multiple uses of the Mode, Fn and WiFi buttons then you will be absolutely ok. There are a number of plugins, Ricoh and third party's that enhance and do excellent jobs. You will need to bracket to get commercial quality. In addition to stitching software, Ricoh and others, if you process the images in Topaz you will get some stunning sharp images.

Ive updated this review after a year of using it - I think it was down to me be inexperienced and doing far too many scans for the battery to run down so quickly. Now I can do two properties in their entirety before needing to charge. Fantastic product. =-= I am using paired with the matterport app to create 3D virtual tours. Does the job well but the battery life is poor and the drain rate is pretty exceptional. I can be doing a property over three floors and by the third floor start to panic that it’s down to below 25%. About 1 hours work. I don’t mind that the battery is built in, many are. It’s the fact it’s not very powerful. In addition the 1/4 screw attachment is RIGHT next to the charge port, so you can’t charge whilst using (I’ve tried many adapters and they all cover the port) this is a material flaw in the design - surely put it on the side. The SD card is less of a problem, you can take 2240 images on this thing- who can’t manage that?! Are you scanning St. Paul’s cathedral?!

I really don't understand those that moan about the price of the Z1. Firstly, it's predominantly aimed at professionals that do Virtual Tours. It's strength is in stills, not video. The Insta360 One X is currently £400 on Amazon, a camera that has a smaller sensor and smaller lenses and therefore lower image quality. The Z1 has TWO 1" sensors and bigger optics, so how people can say they expect it to come in at the same price as the One X is quite baffling. The Theta Z1 is a good camera and makes it much easier to shoot VT's than having to use an SLR with a pano head. The profile is also much smaller so it's easier to hide from reflections and mirrors. Of course it doesn't have the resolution of a multi-image SLR pano, but it's perfectly adequate in the majority of cases unless you want people to be able to zoom in to smaller details. I've knocked a star off because of the built in memory and battery. No excuse not to have an SD card slot and the ability to swap batteries, so on that I have to say poor show Ricoh.

The whole point of having this is to control it via the mobile app, for which you have to use the wireless connection. They say the wireless password is printed on the bottom of the camera, which it is, but so small it's almost impossible to use. I have to take a photograph of it and then zoom in massively to even read it. I've entered it twelve times now, and it says it's wrong every time. So I can't use wireless, can't use the app, can't use the camera. Utter junk.

The Z1 probably has the best picture quality you can get for this price. I'm using it for stills, haven't really used the video functionality much. Pros: - great picture quality (good lenses, good sensors) - it runs android and you can make programs that run on the camera itself - supports the DNG RAW format - the companion Android app works well - can use F2.1 aperture, so works well in low light Cons: - built-in battery, you can't just bring more batteries with you - can only use built-in storage space, you can't just bring more SD cards with you These couple of shortcomings are pretty odd, the Insta360 One X has neither of them, but the picture quality is way worse. If you can program, the ability to make programs that run on the camera (they call them "plugins") is invaluable. The build quality is very nice, it doesn't feel cheap at all. The lenses are rather big, I'd recommend never to leave the Z1 anywhere without at least the soft case on, or scratches may well happen.

£1,148 at time of review Theta Z1 51GB UPDATE: After a couple of days of use I returned it, the battery life makes this unusable for me, I bought an Insta360 One RS instead (way better!) ORIGINAL REVIEW OK let’s address the elephant in the room, this is old tech, it’s been around for years, yet I’ve just just grabbed one as I need it for a project and it’s still the best of the bunch, but it’s anything but perfect. The battery life is ridiculous, you will definitely need a battery pack with you, but as the USB slot is so close to the 1/4 tripod thread you need an extender (see below for links). This really should have a removable battery that you can access from the slide when mounted. Plus ideally it should also have a swappable micro-SD. The mobile, iPad and desktop software while functional could really do with a bit of a UX redesign (they’re not bad, but a little more thought would be nice) But it’s not all bad, the camera performs well and if you use the camera with the Matterport software instead then it’s brilliant (that’s more down to Matterport than Ricoh!), but considering the Matterport software works equally as well with an iPhone & iPad Pro with Lidar scanning as well then you may think, why pay so much for this when you could get an iPad Pro or iPhone for the same, or even less and you can do so much ore with those! That will essentially come down to your time and use case. If you need 360º video then your choice is made, if you want 360º stills then it comes down to how much simpler this is to use once set up and connected to Matterport etc, as it takes secs to take a photo, move the tripod and take another shot, you’d be onto your 3rd or 4th shot by the time you’ve done one using an iPhone or iPad. Essential & recommended add ons: TE-2 Extension adapter £20 (you’ll regret not having this!) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09PBFMQR5 Alternative £12 (or get something like these) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08FDWT8CR Case £13 this fits really well https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DJ65QVC Magnetic USB cables. Very handy and allows you to charge and remove the battery pack easily between shots, plus works as a data cable https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BVZ4ZKLS Hope my review was helpful

The Theta Z1 is in a class of it's own with regards to build quality and picture quality. Absolutely great! The only things I think would make it perfect is if it had an SD card slot and came with stand like all of my other 360 cameras.