Unless you are crazy about immersive panoramas and willing to grant the Theta the kind of unconditional love normally reserved for puppies, spend your money on something more reliable. I'm thinking pork belly futures.
Everything negative that you have read about this camera is probably true. Please understand that I love this camera to pieces. But I'm not a complete idiot. Here is my take on the worst problems.
Internet Connectivity and Image Accessibility
What I consider to be its worst problem is correctable in software: Ricoh Pentax have not released code in any form (source, binary, app, servlet, library) that allows for the independent display of the .jpg images produced by the Theta. Currently, the only way to get an image on the internet is to use either Ricoh's free iOS app or Microsoft's Photosynth app to push the image to Ricoh's servers at theta360.com. Having done that, one can link to the page on which the image resides (not the image itself). Let's say that you have a blog and want to show someone a 360 degree view that you've taken. In your blog text, you'd insert a link to image page on theta360.com. Having clicked that link, your reader is then directed to the Ricoh server and can readily navigate via touch or mouse around your image. Unfortunately, the reader is also subjected to any decorations or ads that Ricoh chooses to weigh down the image with. For some people, this will be a dealbreaker. You are completely at Ricoh's mercy. What happens if -perish the thought -this $400 misunderstanding isn't the huge hit that Ricoh hopes it will be? How about they shut down the server and you're toast? Won't happen? Right.
Let's take the case that you're trying to write a review of the Theta and have uploaded a conventional .jpg that is a highly cropped extract of a 360 image that shows how unobtrusive the camera mount is. Amazon encourages the reviewer to add notes to the image. Suppose in your note you want to add a link to the whole glorious picture to show how tiny and unobtrusive the camera stand is. Well, you cannot, because Amazon don't allow links to images in this context. Nor should they. They don't want to depend on a third party (in this case theta360) who could offer unreliable service, or change the content of the link to an ad or pornography or whatever. The obvious solution is to upload the whole image to Amazon. Oops, you can't do that because Ricoh only supports links to the page on which the image resides. And Amazon only allows images.
One solution is for a Ricoh to register a specific extension for the Theta's images, say .sir which would stand for spherical image Ricoh. Then they could offer operating system level drivers or browser extensions or server side support for that extension which would handle the image rendering. This must sound very tedious. I wouldn't be talking about it if a Ricoh had properly dealt with it.
Image Quality
I got hooked on digital panoramas in the late 1990s. I think that the camera I was using then produced two meg images. The stitching software I could find allowed for stitching together an arbitrary number of images to create a long strip of up to 360 degrees. There was no concept of stitching together two bands along their long axes. So the product of a fair amount of effort was a skinny vertical or horizontal photo. Even skinnier if you cropped the scalloped edges. In contrast, the theta quickly delivers a complete 360 degree image. Whatever stitching that is done is hidden from the user. In my experience, banding that occurs where the two hemispheres is subtly or non-existent. Finger scrolling through the image on my iPod is exciting. Maybe I'm easily amused, but I just love it.
What isn't exciting is the image quality, which is terrible, probably worse than I was getting with the cameras available to me in the nineties. Particularly in the interior shots, the digital grain is like marbles. I'm pretty sure that the software that makes the exposure decides to boost the ISO film speed equivalent rather than extending the exposure. This is crazy. There out to be a setting that asks if the camera is on some sort of support. If it is, i can see no reason why the software that drives the camera cannot increase the exposure time. If the sensor is like that on any other digital camera I've seen, keeping the ISO low should yield profound improvement in resolution.
Another IQ issue that is a little trickier is exposure latitude. Almost be definition, any 360 image is going to have a wide range of illumination, often beyond the capability of any sensor to capture in a single exposure. If the software was told the camera was on a support, it could make several bracketed exposures and not have to clip highlight and shadows.
Usability
Few experiences in life are more pleasant than running crisp software that is smarter than you are. Conversely, hardly anything is more galling than what I will call arrogant but ignorant software. Theta app, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.
Running the camera remotely from an iOS (and on 29 November, Android, if Ricoh's announcement holds true) app is brilliant if you happen to have an iPod or iPhone. What isn't great is communicating across a public wifi network hosted by the Theta. Initially, this makes sense. Achieving a connection to a known SSID is something that we all know how to do. The password is engraved on the bottom of the camera, invisible to all snoopers except those with a tripod socket fetish. what is inconvenient is what happens when you start using it. For me, the normal workflow is to take a shot or two and then upload them to the internet. This means that you are constantly toggling back and forth between your normal WiFi connection and the Theta connection. The acronym for this condition is PITA. Far better for them to have used an ad hoc connection which can coexist with a standard connection and avoid swapping altogether. I'm not sure, but I think miracast is an example of what I'm talking about. Also, AppleTV and ChromeCast.
Every time you want to upload an image, you have to log onto FaceBook. This is automated, but what if you don't want to be a member? Tough.
Prominence of Hands, Tripods, and Other Camera Supports
For me, this is a non-issue. Basically every frame the Theta exposes is its own selfie. Otherwise, they'd call it something like Theta 359. If you're holding the camera, at least one hand, foot, mouth, or other body part is going to show up in the image. I prefer to use an unobtrusive support. Along with the camera, I ordered two small tripods, a mini CCTV stand, and a D-ring which screws into the tripod socket and can be used with monofilament. So far, my big favorite is the CCTV stand ( Panavise 845-246W Deluxe Micro Mount (Cream) ). In my opinion, its color and shape blend in nicely with the stub of the camera that inevitably shows up in the image. While it comes with a nice ball head, most tables and suchlike are level enough that I don't need it. There should be a shot of the setup in the product images.
Case
The Theta's body otherwise sleek body is of necessity dominated by two exophtalmic half orbs -the lenses that together give it the capability to make panoramas. Ricoh provides a cute but insubstantial case which probably keeps the dust off but offers virtually no drop or shock protection. I think that Ricoh should spring for the couple of bucks a custom Pelican case would cost them. In the meantime, don't be stuffing your Theta in no overhead bins.
Conclusion
Ricoh Pentax joins two companies with a long history of innovation. I am desperately hoping that the shortcomings I've discussed are mostly 1.0 software problems that can be addressed in upcoming releases. The pressures to bring out a product in time for the holidays must be enormous.
In the meantime, this pioneering nanoniche camera is a source of endless fascination for me and others afflicted with immersive panorama syndrome. People who are just looking for the occasional panorama would be better and less expensively served by virtually any smartphone.
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