“When the time came to pick the most unique camera of 2015, the Ricoh Theta S very quickly came to the fore. Sure, we’ve seen superficially-similar designs in past Ricoh Theta cameras, but the Theta S is a major update, and it deserves to be considered in its own right. Just a glance at the Ricoh Theta S is enough to tell you that it’s a very unusual camera, with twin fisheye lenses protruding from either side of its slim body, whose minimal user interface elements — there’s not even an LCD display — hint at a camera designed primarily to be controlled from your phone instead.
The duo of lenses allow the Theta S to capture an almost-complete 360-by-360 degree spherical panorama with a single press of the shutter button. And those photos are much, much better than ever before, thanks to a completely overhauled imaging pipeline. Nor is that all: For the first time the Theta S boasts a truly usable spherical panoramic video mode, too. The camera’s unique design does mean you’ll have to learn a whole new way to approach your photography, but that turns out to be a surprisingly fun and involving process. And there’s a major reward for your efforts waiting in the wings: Those spherical panoramas will put you right back in the moment in a way that a flat still image just can’t. We had a whole lot of fun shooting with the Ricoh Theta S, and we’re confident that you will, too!”
