Take 360-Degree Selfies

Get ahead of the curve with this VR camera

With interactive, movie-like VR tech sure to take pride of place in every tech-lover’s home in the next few years, it’s time to get ahead of the curve on the creation front. The stylish Ricoh Theta S camera can record and capture 360-degree video and imagery with its neat twin lens design – and it doesn’t disappoint. Offering auto and manual mode shooting, this odd-shaped camera has two bulbous, ultra-wide angle lenses with internal image stitching, which pulls the shots taken into a spherical whole that you can pore over later.

While 360-degree movies are far more attention-grabbing initially, there’s something deeply beautiful about the 360-degree images, perfectly capturing moments in their rich fullness. Got a big event planned? Break out the Ricoh Theta S, try your best to get everyone to stand still, and you can capture a moment completely. You can even upload your 360-degree imagery to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr and invite your friends to visually share in the details of your immersive experience.

How does it work?

The Theta S gets its intriguing spherical results by combining an intricate inner lens system that relays the imagery to two CMOS sensors. The inner construction and positioning of the lenses to achieve a spherical result rests around a dual prism system. This bends the light towards the sensors, which sit beside the lenses, rather than behind them.

Each of the wide-angle lenses’ cut-off points are just before the lenses can “see” the camera’s body, and thanks to Ricoh’s magic, when stitched together, the image reveals only the faintest of lines from where the two camera’s images have been placed together, meaning that the Theta S and/or your tripod will be non-existent in your final image.

How to view 360 photoshpheres with a virtual reality headset

What’s the point of jumping into VR tech if you can’t throw a headset on and walk around the house, right? Okay, so, maybe walking around is a stretch, but you can still explore your images virtually with a VR headset like Homido. The Theta S is a remarkably easy piece of kit to use when it comes to creating stills and video, but what about seeing those stills in an immersive 360 view? Well, your best bet is to grab a headset, download the app, then follow these instructions – it’s a very simple process, and you wont need a computer to do it either.

1. Film some stuff

Using either the manual or auto mode on the stills setting for Theta S, compose your image, and take the shot. Follow this up with taking some footage as well, for good measure.

2. Have the app handy

Using the Theta S App on your smartphone, select ‘App’, and this will bring up a list of footage you have taken as well as images. Choose the image you want to look at.

3. Select ‘twin lens’

Once selected, your image will have a choice of viewing options – just select ‘VR view (twin lens)’, put on a headset, and enjoy examining the new world in front of you.

4. Lets live in video

For video, you just need to repeat the last few steps, but select a video file instead of one of your stills, choose to export it, and simply save the video.

5. Easy access

Open up the Homido player – or whatever compatible headset you’re using – and select the Video Player. Choose the Open File tab to open up your last saved video file.

6. Sit back and watch

Once you’ve selected this, the video will start playing back in the app in a split- screen fashion – just remember to put your phone in the headset!