Buying guide

Ricoh GR IV vs GR III

The Ricoh GR IV looks like a GR III and shares almost nothing with it under the skin. Same 28mm view, same pocket, same idea. New sensor, new lens, new stabilizer, new battery, new card format, 53GB of memory inside, two more Image Controls and a third custom slot. Ricoh launched it on August 20, 2025 at $1,499.95; the GR III launched in March 2019 at $899.95 and has sold used and discounted since. This page lists what changed, what did not, what it does to your recipes, and which one to buy.

What changed

Figures are Ricoh's own, from the two specification pages and the launch announcements. Prices are US launch MSRPs.

The changes in the order owners notice them

• The battery first. The DB-120 is rated for about 250 shots against the DB-110's 200, and the IV charges faster over USB-C. Not a huge number on paper; in practice it is the difference between one spare and two.
• Then the 53GB inside. The GR III's 2GB was a buffer for when you forgot the card. The GR IV's 53GB is storage: most owners shoot a whole trip without a card. The card slot itself moved to microSD, so your SD cards stay with the GR III.
• The stabilizer and the lens: 5-axis shake reduction rated at six steps instead of 3-axis at four, and a redesigned 7-element lens with three aspherical elements. Same 28mm, same f/2.8, sharper at the edges and wide open.
• Two more Image Controls, and grain where it is useful. Cinema (Yellow) and Cinema (Green) are new and only exist on the IV generation, so the Cinema recipes cannot load on a GR III. Grain, which the III limits to its four black and white modes, now works on Positive Film, Negative Film and both Cinema modes as well, with a size setting the III never had. A third custom slot makes a three-recipe loadout a dial turn each.
• And the small stuff that adds up: startup in about 0.6 seconds, an electronic shutter to 1/16000s since firmware 1.11 (February 2026) for shooting f/2.8 in sun without the ND, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 with the new GR WORLD app, ultrasonic dust removal, a higher ISO ceiling you will rarely use, and a body 0.5mm slimmer at 5g heavier.

What did not change

The pictures, mostly. Both take 28mm photos from a camera that fits in a jacket pocket, both have the two-stop ND filter, both top out at 1080p60 video, and the twelve Image Controls the GR III has are all on the GR IV under the same names with the same nine sliders and the same white balance shift grid. Snap focus, Full Press Snap and the U1/U2/U3 dial positions work the same way. The menus are laid out on the same plan. If you know a GR III you can pick up a GR IV and shoot.

What it does to your recipes

A GR III recipe loads on a GR IV value for value; nothing has to be translated. What changes is the baseline underneath it: the GR IV renders a little warmer and redder, and up to about a third of a stop brighter, at identical settings. Ritchie Roesch measured it when his GR IV arrived, shooting the same recipe on both bodies, and it matches what owners here report. A warm, saturated Positive Film look shows the drift first; a muted Negative Film look barely does. The fixes are small: a step or two toward blue on the white balance shift, or Key -1 if it runs bright. Multi-Auto white balance is gone on the IV, so recipes built on it use plain Auto or Auto WB (White Priority) instead. The GR IV recipes page lists everything that runs on it, and every recipe page's walkthrough switches to the GR IV's menu names when you pick the body.

Buy the III used, or the IV new

Buying new, the GR IV, and it is not close: the GR III is not being made in a way that makes it a new-camera choice anymore, and $1,499.95 buys the better camera in every measurable way. The real question is a used GR III at whatever the market says this week against a new GR IV at launch price, and that one has two answers.

• Buy the GR III used if you mostly shoot daylight JPEGs with recipes, you can live with 200 shots a charge and a card in the slot, and the price gap pays for a trip to shoot on. The pictures are 28mm GR pictures. Check the firmware (Negative Film needs 1.70 on the III, 1.20 on the IIIx) and shoot the sky at f/16 for dust before you pay.
• Buy the GR IV new if battery life and internal memory are what you actually run out of, if you want the Cinema modes or grain on color, if you shoot a lot at f/2.8 in sun, or if you want the camera to be the current one for the next five years of firmware and accessories.

Want 40mm instead of 28mm? Then it is the GR IIIx used today or the GR IVx, announced as in development on August 26, 2026 for winter 2026 or later; the GR III vs GR IIIx page covers the focal-length side, and the which-GR guide puts every body on one table, HDF and Monochrome included. Real photos from GR IV owners, grouped by recipe, are on the GR IV sample images page.

Accessories for each

Almost nothing carries over between the generations: different battery, different card, different screen protector, different filter adapter. The gear pages are ranked by what owners of each body click through to buy.

Questions people ask

Is the Ricoh GR IV worth upgrading to from a GR III?

If the GR III's battery and its 2GB of internal memory are what you fight with, yes: the GR IV gets about 250 shots against 200, charges faster over USB-C, and holds a whole trip without a card. The other gains are a newer 25.7MP sensor, 5-axis stabilization rated at six steps, a sharper 7-element lens, the two Cinema Image Controls and grain on color modes. If your GR III is working and you shoot daylight JPEGs with recipes, the pictures will not change enough to justify $1,499.95 on their own.

Do GR III recipes work on the GR IV?

The settings load exactly: the sliders, the white balance shift, the Image Control names are all the same on the GR IV. The result is a starting point rather than a match, because the GR IV renders a little warmer and up to about a third of a stop brighter at identical values. A step or two toward blue on the white balance shift, or Key -1, usually brings a GR III recipe back. The one GR III white balance the IV lacks is Multi-Auto; use plain Auto or Auto WB (White Priority) instead.

Does the GR IV use the same battery and card as the GR III?

No. The GR IV takes the new DB-120 battery and microSD cards; the GR III's DB-110 and full-size SD cards do not fit. Screen protectors, lens caps and the filter adapter are also cut per generation.

Which has the better lens, the GR IV or the GR III?

The GR IV's. It is a new design, 7 elements in 5 groups with 3 aspherical elements against the GR III's 6 in 4 with 2, at the same 28mm equivalent and f/2.8, and Ricoh built it to be sharper wide open in a slimmer body. The GR III lens was already the reason people bought the camera; the IV's is better at the edges and at f/2.8.

What about the GR IV HDF?

Same camera, announced December 16, 2025 at $1,599.95 and shipping late January 2026, with a Highlight Diffusion Filter where the two-stop ND filter would be. Ricoh describes it as emphasizing highlights for mellow, soft images. It runs every GR IV recipe; it just cannot do the ND step.