Review on Aleta S2C 360 Camera Camcorder Standard Set (Batteries Excluded) + 12V DC Adapter (US Version) by Scott Bradford

A little background, I mainly use 360 cameras for virtual tours, so I'm primarily concerned with photo quality and workflow speed, not things like video. I have used DSLRs with panoramic heads and 3 previous consumer level 360 cameras (Theta S, MiSphere, OneX) and have switched to 360 cameras due to the speed of 360 creation, although I have since missed the detail that I get with them - and I didn't feel like spending 1000 on a professional camera. I won't go into the specs of the camera - they're easy to find with a web search - and will focus on my experiences with the camera and the company. I heard about Aleta S2C some time ago but was waiting for it to be more perfect and also to know about Theta Z1. While Theta caused a stir for good reason, it still didn't satisfy my need for high-resolution output. After weighing all the options, I took a chance and bought Aleta because I could always post-process to improve the final quality of the photo, but I couldn't post-process to increase the resolution; I mean 12k for Aleta vs. 7k for Theta Z1 - out of competition. Due to my little experience, the Aleta development team is very active in releasing frequent updates and improvements as well as the latest firmware (1.06.07) and the app. The camera does indeed deliver very good results, both with in-camera HDR and with 7 bracketing for manual HDR merging. The HDR photo output is at least as good as the OneX's HDR output in my opinion and has good, accurate color balance, plus it completely surpasses the OneX in terms of detail and resolution. The camera doesn't output in RAW which would be a plus, but when I need that level of control I use 7 brackets, combine them into a TIFF and use them for post processing. This latest firmware update increases the camera's overall dynamic range (by increasing exposure time) so it can now produce correct overexposed photos for shadow detail and underexposed photos for highlights. Some of the previous reviews here need updating from the owners as the updates have likely resolved most if not all of their complaints, but I can understand their dissatisfaction with some of the previous camera issues - I was lucky enough to purchase the camera with this one latest updates available that fixed the problems I was encountering - just as they used to be. As I said, I use my camera for photography and not video, so I won't address that area as there are better options for that if you like and need it. But if you want high-quality photos with lots of detail, you should be happy with Aleta's results. I consider the company to be much smaller than Ricoh or Insta360, but I am VERY happy with their response to issues I've encountered or requests for improvement when I post on their Facebook page or even message them on Facebook. The staff even sent me messages giving me information about the upgrade and asking me how the upgrades work - I don't think I've ever received such service from an electronics company. I may update this post when I do a full job with new updates with some pics (don't hold me back). However, if you have specific questions, you can post them in the Revain Questions section and I will most likely be notified and give my best answer to help you.