Setup guide

Ricoh GR IV setup guide

The GR IV comes out of the box set up well enough to shoot, which is why most owners never change anything and then wonder why the camera keeps hunting for focus and why their recipe is not showing in the files. This is the setup from the manual: what each setting is called, where it lives, what the default is, and what to change on day one. The manual files settings under codes like A1 and D2; the camera itself shows tab icons and page names, so the names are used below: Focus Settings, Exposure Setting, Image Process Settings, User Mode and Customize Controls.

Before you shoot anything

• Charge it over USB-C, set the date and time, and check the firmware version in the menu. Firmware 1.11 (February 2026) added the electronic shutter, which lets you shoot f/2.8 in full sun at up to 1/16000s without the ND filter. Ricoh's updates are free and cannot be rolled back.
• Decide where files go. There is about 53GB inside the camera and a microSD slot. Switch Record Memory is the default job of holding the Movie button, so a long press toggles between internal memory and the card. Format whichever you use before the first shoot.
• Pick a file format. Recipes are Image Control settings, and the manual lists Image Control among the functions not reflected in RAW images, so shoot JPEG to see them, or RAW+JPEG to keep a safety net the recipe shows on the JPEG of. JPEG is the GR way; the whole point of a recipe is not editing afterwards.
• Pair the GR WORLD app over Bluetooth 5.3 if you want images on your phone and location stamped into files. The camera calls itself MY GR IV until you rename it.

Snap focus, the setting that makes it a GR

Snap Focus Distance lives on the Focus Settings page and takes 0.3m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3.5m, 5m or infinity; the factory setting is 2.5m. Full Press Snap, on the same page and on by default, is what uses it: a half press of the shutter autofocuses as normal, but a quick full press skips focusing and fires at the snap distance. That is the zero-lag street shot, and it is why a GR shooter's hands look like they are not focusing at all.

Two things to set on day one. First, move the distance to 1.5m or 2m for street; 2.5m is a safe default but a little far for the way most people shoot a GR. Second, put Snap Focus Distance on a button, so you can change it without the menu (next section). If you want the camera to focus nowhere else, set Focus itself to Snap; and the Sn position on the mode dial, Snap Distance Priority AE, fixes focus to the snap distance and picks the aperture for you from three depth-of-field levels. Full Press Snap does not work in macro mode, in manual focus, or with the self-timer, which is worth knowing the first time it seems to have stopped.

ISO Auto, and its three hidden limits

The ISO button sets a fixed value; the Fn button while you are in it flips back to ISO AUTO and, pressed again, restores the fixed value you last used. What AUTO is allowed to do is set on the Exposure Setting page under ISO Setting: ISO Auto Upper Limit (factory 12800), ISO Auto Lower Limit (100) and Minimum Shutter Speed (1/30, adjustable from 1 second to 1/1000). Minimum Shutter Speed is the one that matters. It is the shutter speed below which the camera raises ISO instead of slowing down further, and at 1/30 a walking person blurs. 1/125 is a sensible street setting; 1/250 if you shoot from a moving position.

The upper limit is a taste call and many recipes state theirs; the ISO note on a recipe page is where a creator says "cap it at 6400" or lets it run because the grain is the look. Two related facts from the manual: some ISO settings disable D-Range Correction, and Highlight Correction needs ISO 200 or above to do anything, so a recipe that turns it on is doing nothing at ISO 100.

U1, U2, U3 and how recipes fit

The three U positions on the mode dial each hold a complete camera state: exposure mode, Image Control and all its sliders, white balance, focus settings, everything. A recipe is what you save into one. Set the whole look on the shooting screen, then MENU, User Mode, Assign User Mode Dial, choose USER1 to USER3, name it or not (unnamed slots take the date and time), press OK. Turn the dial to U1 and that look is back.

The rule that catches everyone: changes you make after recalling a U mode are not saved. Nudge the white balance, turn the dial away and back, and the nudge is gone. When a tweak should stick, re-run Assign User Mode Dial. Save User Mode Box keeps six more complete sets, BOX1 to BOX6, that Load User Mode Box can put onto any dial position later, so a library of nine looks is possible with three on the dial at a time. Owners tend to run a loadout: a color look for daylight, a black and white, and a night look. The save-a-recipe walkthrough turns any settings card on this site into a U slot step by step, with the GR IV's own menu names, and the GR IV recipes page is where to pick the first three.

The Fn buttons and the ADJ lever

Fn Button Setting, on the Customize Controls page, reassigns six controls. The factory assignments: the Fn button is AF+AE Lock, the ISO button is ISO Setting, the Drive button is Drive Mode, the white balance button is White Balance, the Movie button switches Still/Movie, and holding the Movie button is Switch Record Memory. The list you can put on them includes Snap Focus Distance, ND Filter, Crop, Image Control, Touch AF, Outdoor View Setting, Shake Reduction and a JPEG/RAW toggle.

The ADJ lever, under ADJ Mode Setting in the same menu, holds five functions you flick through and adjust without entering the menu. Factory order: Image Control, Focus, AE Metering, File Format, Aspect Ratio. Suggestions: put Snap Focus Distance on the Fn button, because it is the setting you change most on a walk; swap Aspect Ratio out of the ADJ lever for ND Filter or Crop, whichever you actually use; and leave Image Control in slot one, since switching looks without touching U1 to U3 is what the lever is best at.

Display, touch, crop, macro

• Outdoor View Setting (Auto, +2 to -2) brightens the screen in sun; Auto is fine, and it is assignable to a button for the days it is not.
• Touch AF, on the Customize Controls page, moves only the AF point by default; it can also be set to focus, or to focus and shoot, on a tap. Focus Peaking on the Focus Settings page helps manual focus and is off by default.
• Crop gives a 35mm or 50mm field of view from the 28mm lens at lower resolution (35mm drops L to M, 50mm drops to S); RAW files are always the full frame. It is a way to try the 40mm GR IIIx view before you buy one.
• Macro mode, the flower button, focuses from 6 to 15cm in front of the lens. Full Press Snap is off while it is on.

The two things new owners get wrong

• Shooting RAW and looking for the recipe: Image Control is not applied to RAW. If the files on the computer look flat and neutral, that is why. Shoot JPEG, or RAW+JPEG and look at the JPEG, or develop the RAW in camera with the Image Control applied.
• Tweaking a U mode and losing it: the recalled U1 is a copy; edits to it evaporate when the dial moves. Re-save through Assign User Mode Dial, or keep a scratch copy in a User Mode Box.

Everything above is the camera; the looks are the other half. The Image Control guide explains all 14 modes and what the nine sliders do in which direction, the GR IV sample images show real owners' photos grouped by recipe, and the GR IV accessories page is the spare battery and the screen protector you will want in week one.

Questions people ask

What are the best settings for the Ricoh GR IV?

There is no single best set, but there is a sensible first day: shoot JPEG or RAW+JPEG so recipes apply, set Snap Focus Distance to 1.5m or 2m and leave Full Press Snap on, set ISO Auto's upper limit to 6400 and its Minimum Shutter Speed to 1/125 for moving subjects, save your first recipe to U1, and put Snap Focus Distance on the Fn button. Everything else on this page is why.

How does snap focus work on the GR IV?

Snap Focus Distance, on the Focus Settings page, is a preset focus distance: 0.3m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 3.5m, 5m or infinity. With Full Press Snap on (the default), a half press still autofocuses but a quick full press fires at the snap distance with no focusing delay. Set the focus mode itself to Snap and the camera only ever focuses there. The Sn position on the mode dial goes one further and picks the aperture for you from three depth-of-field levels.

How do I save settings to U1, U2 or U3 on the GR IV?

Dial in everything on the shooting screen, then MENU, User Mode, Assign User Mode Dial, pick USER1 to USER3, optionally name it, press OK. The mode dial's U1/U2/U3 positions recall it. Changes you make after recalling are not kept; turn the dial and they reset, so re-save when you want a tweak to stick. Save User Mode Box keeps up to six more sets you can load onto the dial later.

Does Image Control apply to RAW files on the GR IV?

No. The manual lists Image Control and Shadow Correction among the functions not reflected in RAW images. A recipe shows in the JPEG, and in RAW+JPEG it shows in the JPEG half only. You can apply an Image Control to a RAW afterwards with the camera's RAW Development.

What does the ISO button do when I press it twice?

Press the ISO button and turn the dial to set a fixed ISO; press the Fn button to jump back to ISO AUTO, and press it again to restore the fixed value you last set. The limits that ISO AUTO works within live on the Exposure Setting page under ISO Setting.