If you’re into action sports, Ricoh has a new camera that can film your moves in 360 degrees.
The Theta m15 is a slender handheld shooter with a spherical lens that can shoot omnidirectional videos up to three minutes long.
By adding video, it improves upon the previous Theta, which Ricoh described last year as the only consumer device that can take 360-degree photos with a single release of the shutter. The Theta m15 also doubles the Wi-Fi transfer rate of the previous model.
Users have to transfer videos to a linked smartphone via Wi-Fi for editing in a related free app for iOS and Android. The videos are free of stitch lines as they’re captured in one shot, according to the Tokyo-based manufacturer.
“We’re targeting users who are into sharing via social media,” a Ricoh spokeswoman in Tokyo said. “We developed this camera and its video feature in response to user demand.”
Promos for the device include a YouTube video of skateboarders filming themselves in 360 degrees, while Theta shots include zoomable spherical photos such as an image of a field of sunflowers.
The Theta m15 weighs 95 grams, has 4GB of internal memory, and has a lithium-ion battery that charges via a USB connector. It has an ISO range of 100 to 1600 for photos and 100 to 400 for video, as well as a shutter speed as quick as 1/8000 of a second.
Ricoh also wants to get external developers interested in spherical photography. It said an API and SDK will be released for the device.
The Theta m15, which is being marketed by Ricoh Imaging, will be released in Japan on Nov. 14 with no set price. It will be released in the UK on the same date with a price of £269.99 ($435), according to Ricoh Imaging UK.