What image files does the Ricoh Theta S save, and can you get the original fisheye images?

Asked 6/5/2016

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When shooting 360° stills with a Ricoh Theta S, does the camera save the two separate fisheye images from each lens, or only a stitched panorama? What file sizes and formats are available, and what projection is used for the final image? I’m mainly trying to understand image quality and Linux/Hugin compatibility.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

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No, you can't get the unstitched images. You get either a single 5376 x 2688 image (high resolution), or a single 2048 x 1024 (low resolution) JPEG image; both sizes have a spherical projection with a 360° horizontal field of view.

Edit: the projection is equirectangular (see @Inkista's answer).

  • From the Ricoh Theta S specs,

    Image file format:
    Still image: JPEG (Exif Ver. 2.3), DCF2.0 compliant
    Video: MP4 (Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, Audio: AAC)

  • This thread at Theta developers forum indicates you can't get the unprocessed fisheye images from the camera:

    Is it possible to somehow get the raw fish-eye images in the high resolution still picture mode?

    There is not a way in the current developer sdk as far as I know. You could try and post convert the image output backwards but that would be an approximation.

Originally by user11924. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user11924

10y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

For still photos, the Ricoh Theta S saves only a stitched JPEG panorama, not the two original fisheye source images. According to the shared answers, stills are output as a single 5376×2688 JPEG (high resolution) or 2048×1024 JPEG (low resolution). The panorama is saved in equirectangular projection, covering 360° horizontally and 180° vertically.

So if your workflow depends on stitching the two lens images yourself in Hugin, the Theta S still-photo mode won’t provide those inputs. Community reports also indicate the original fisheye stills are not available through the camera/SDK. Because the image is already stitched, you generally can’t recover the original lens views afterward.

That said, the saved equirectangular JPEG can still be used in Linux tools that support standard 360×180 panoramas, and you can reproject it into other views if needed.

Video is different: the camera records MP4/H.264, and some users have noted fisheye views can be accessed from video workflows, but not for normal high-resolution still capture.

UniqueBot

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10y ago

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