If you wish to seize 3D images or footage on a price range, Ricoh’s Theta line continues to be a comparatively inexpensive different to multi-camera rigs. It’s a a lot simpler resolution now, too: The new Theta X is the corporate’s first 360-degree digital camera with a touchscreen and different upgrades that make it simpler to make use of as a standalone digital camera.

There are nonetheless loads of cell apps that leverage a smartphone or pill’s digital camera and movement sensors to seize 360-degree imagery, nevertheless it’s a painstaking course of requiring customers to always reposition their system as if trapped inside a big sphere. A devoted 360-degree digital camera makes it simpler to snap panoramic photos with a single button press, and so they enable 360-degree movies to be captured simply as simply. These units may not be as in style as they as soon as had been, however they’re nonetheless very helpful for creating content material for VR and an essential software with regards to mixing visible results with live-action footage.

Ricoh’s Theta units use a pair of back-to-back cameras with 180-degree fisheye lenses to seize every part across the system in a single snap, however to assist preserve the value and dimension down, they depend on a connection to a cell app for configuring settings and offering the photographer with a stay preview for framing pictures. The brand new Theta X is Ricoh’s first digital camera to characteristic a 2.25-inch touchscreen show, which is not solely helpful for framing pictures sans a smartphone, it additionally makes it simpler to configure settings, hook up with wi-fi networks, and carry out firmware updates by itself.

The Theta X additionally runs an Android-based OS, which is able to enable third-parties to develop customized plugins to increase the digital camera’s capabilities—a characteristic that may even profit from the built-in touchscreen, permitting these plugins to be put in immediately from the system. To additional enhance the Theta X’s performance as a standalone digital camera, Ricoh has additionally launched a swappable rechargeable battery, and the power to seize content material to a microSD card as a substitute of simply the system’s 46GB of inside reminiscence.

Picture and video high quality seem like a step up from the Theta Z1. The Theta X captures 11K photos for “high-resolution bright-light indoor images” or at 5.5K “to seize photos simply and effectively in different eventualities.” Video may also be captured at as much as 5.7K resolutions (5760 × 2880) at 30 frames per second, or as much as 60 frames per second when dropping all the way down to 4K (3840 × 1920).

Different options embody extra streamlined Bluetooth connectivity with out the necessity for PIN codes, built-in GPS and help for A-GPS, and a USB-C connector for file transfers and powering the digital camera whereas it’s in use. Accessible beginning in March, the $800 Theta X will truly be barely cheaper than the $1,050 Theta Z1, however that’s as a result of it is going to truly lack some professional options like the power to shoot in RAW mode or report spatial audio alongside video.