On September 19 (Wednesday), we held a round-table discussion to which we invited three people who enjoy taking photos of amusement parks with THETA.

Planning and development staff from Ricoh attended the discussion to get ideas for developing functions in the near future. The discussion was held in an interview format to find out exactly how they use THETA.

They told us that when they go to an amusement park, they always carry an SLR camera and several types of lens with them, and they carry THETA in their pocket. We were happy to hear them saying that they consider THETA to be a must-take-along camera for amusement parks as it records the entire surroundings because all areas within amusement parks are so well maintained and neat.

We were also able to ask them about how their use of THETA and an SLR camera differs depending on the subject they are shooting and their purpose since all three users have different ways of doing things.

When asked why they were glad they had taken THETA to the amusement park, one of them told us about a charming thing that had happened to her. She said that when she took out THETA to take a photo with “Mickey Mouse”, a famous Disney character from the amusement park, in an area set up for taking a two-shot photo, Mickey Mouse became extremely interested in THETA. Mickey asked to see the 360-degree photo they had taken so she transferred the 360-degree image to her smartphone and showed it to him. Mickey liked the photo so much and she was able to spend more time together with Mickey than usual.

We were also able to hear about many things concerning their passion for and problems with THETA that we did not even expect. Our planning and development staff were very satisfied with this opportunity since they never get the chance to talk at length with THETA users!

We held this discussion with a small number of people so that we could talk at length. We want to work on planning and developing products in the future while listening to the opinions of people who love and use THETA every day in a variety of scenarios!