Fixing the Theta S

A while back I bought a Ricoh Theta S camera. I’ve used it on and off since. More off than on recently though. I thought it might be fun to take it to emf, but when I got it out I discovered that it was dead. The battery would not hold a charge.

It turns out that this is a common problem and there is even a guide to replacing the battery with an Olympus one which is a perfect match. The instructions refer to special tools that you need to get the back off, but I made do with a penknife and a thumbnail. My pro tip, the cover on the bottom is actually a very thin sticker so you don’t have to get far behind it to get it off. Once you’ve done that, remove the four screws and then pull open the cover at the bottom right hand corner, stick something (your thumbnail or the corner of a credit card) into the gap and then run it round the edge to pop open all the clips holding the cover on. You only have to take the cover off one side, the one facing you when the three buttons are on the left hand side.

The old battery was a bit tricky to get out as it is stuck to the case, but if you give it a gentle prise with a wide blade it will pop out. There is no need for any soldering, the new battery just drops in. My replacement battery is now in and seems to be accepting charge and the camera is working well. It can transfer pictures to my phone over WiFi or over usb to my computer. To say that it is six or so years old the quality of the images holds up quite well.

It works!

Update: It turns out that the latest Ricoh Theta cameras use the same battery - the DB-110. You can buy a DB-110 here - although I reckon the Olympus one I got is the same thing with a different label.