Nov 13 2015
Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced that it has been named a CES 2016 Best of Innovation Awards Honoree for its Ricoh Theta S 360-degree camera. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, independent engineers and members of the trade media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics products across 27 product categories.
The Ricoh Theta S is the first truly 360 degree spherical camera that captures the entirety of a scene in a high-resolution photo or video, in a sleek, pocket-sized design. The Ricoh Theta S captures high-resolution spherical images of nearly 14 mega-pixels and records HD video at 30fps, with a maximum recording time of 25 minutes. Its high quality images are enabled by an enlarged image sensor and fast F2.0 lenses that allow more light through Ricoh's proprietary ultra-small twin-lens folded-optical system. The spherical images can be uploaded to theta360.com, shared via Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, and posted to Google Maps, Google+ and YouTube's 360° Channel.
The Ricoh Theta S is the brainchild of Ricoh's Visual Revolution or VR division, an organization that is focused on developing innovative consumer imaging technologies. The camera's combination of small size, high quality imagery and incredible functionality are a result of Ricoh's many decades of experience in advanced imaging and optical technologies. The company has long been a leader in professional printers and copiers, and is known for its high-quality optics and optical components. A key achievement with the Theta series is an ultra-small twin-lens folded-optical system capable of capturing two wide-angle images and then marrying them into a single spherical image.
"We're thrilled that the Ricoh Theta S was named a CES 2016 Best of Innovation Honoree," said Jim Malcolm, president, Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation. "360-degree imaging is an exciting and emerging field that will only continue to grow in popularity as platforms like Facebook, Google and YouTube expand content viewing and sharing technology."
The prestigious CES Innovation Awards are sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, the producer of CES 2016, the global gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, and have been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976.
The Ricoh Theta S will be displayed at CES 2016 January 6-9, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Best of Innovation Honorees will also be displayed at CES Unveiled New York, which features dozens of exhibitors and networking opportunities and runs 4:30-7:30 pm November 10, 2015 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York.
Entries are evaluated on their engineering, aesthetic and design qualities, intended use/function and user value, how the design and innovation of the product directly compares to other products in the marketplace and unique/novel features present.
Products chosen as CES Best of Innovation Honorees reflect innovative design and engineering in some of the most cutting edge tech products and services coming to market.
CES 2016 Innovation Honoree products are featured on CESweb.org/Innovation, which lists product categories, as well as each product name, manufacturer information, description, photo and URL.