Samsung Gear 360 vs. Ricoh Theta V

A few weeks back I did a site walk with a customer in Chicago on a project that was still in excavation. I was walking with the Samsung Gear 360 (2016 version) and he was walking with a Ricoh Theta V. I personally still feel the Ricoh Theta V is an excellent overall camera but we do get some users who feel the resolution and image clarity is not what they would like it to be.  At StructionSite we are always testing gear and will make our goal to share our findings with you as often as possible.

The shot below is by no means a comprehensive comparison between the two cameras because we only tested in a single lighting condition, but I think what we are seeing may be the result of the raw resolution difference between the Gear 360 2016 version (30 megapixels) and the Theta V (12 megapixels). Anyone with experience in photography will tell you that the final image is a result of far more than simply the raw resolution, but all other things being equal you may notice a difference in the two images below. Take a look and let us know what you guys think. In a future post we may look at the video resolution between the two, which for our new 360 VideoWalk™ workflow could matter quite a bit. Stay tuned!