Best Settings for Ricoh GR II: Autofocus, Snap and ISO

Our pick: if you change nothing else, switch Full Press Snap to On. It is the setting that makes a GR feel like a GR: half-press when you have time, slam the button when you don't.

GR II autofocus settings: which AF mode to use

The GR II uses contrast-detect autofocus, which Imaging Resource lists alongside these modes: Multi AF, Spot AF, Pinpoint AF, Subject Tracking, MF, Snap, infinity and face detection. Ricoh rates normal AF at 0.2 seconds and macro AF at 0.4 seconds, and Imaging Resource measured a 0.29-second full-AF shutter lag. Fast in good light, in other words, and slower when contrast drops.

Here is how we would use each mode:

AF mode	What it does	Use it for
Multi AF (default)	Measures 9 AF areas and focuses on the nearest	Group shots, quick travel snaps
Spot AF	Focuses on the center of the frame	Street, portraits, most daily shooting
Pinpoint AF	Smaller area than Spot AF	Small subjects, focusing through gaps
Subject Tracking	Follows the subject after a half-press	Cyclists, kids, moving targets
Snap	Fixed distance you choose	Fast street work, low light
∞ (Infinity)	Fixed at infinity	Landscapes, city views

Spot AF is our default because Multi AF's "nearest area" logic is the wrong rule on the street. The nearest object is often a railing or someone's shoulder at the edge of the frame. Spot AF does one predictable thing.

Two settings in the Setup menu make AF feel faster. AF Mode offers Normal or High Speed. The manual says High Speed makes focusing faster, but the screen blanks while the lens focuses, and it does not work with Subject Tracking or Continuous AF. We would accept the blackout for street work. AF Auxiliary Light should stay On unless you need to be discreet: in a dim room, that lamp is the difference between a lock and a hunt.

The AF function switching lever on the back is the GR II's hidden gem. Set it to C-AF and the AF button runs Continuous AF while you hold it, whatever the Focus setting. Set it to AEL/AFL and the same button becomes back-button focus. If you shoot moving subjects even occasionally, set the lever to C-AF and leave Spot AF as your half-press mode.

Since firmware 2, Ricoh's update notes add an MF Assist Display option (it turns on focus assist automatically in manual focus) and a Macro AF Scan Range that can limit macro focusing to about 10 to 30 cm, which cuts hunting on close-ups. If you can't find them, your camera is on older firmware.

Coming from a newer camera? Our Ricoh GR III autofocus settings guide explains how the hybrid AF on later models changes these choices.

Snap focus and Full Press Snap on the GR II

Snap mode fixes focus at a preset distance, so the shutter fires the instant you press it. The GR II's Snap Focus Distance offers 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 5m and infinity. To change it while shooting, turn the up-down dial while pressing the left button.

Full Press Snap combines both worlds. With it set to On, a half-press runs your normal AF mode, while a fast full press shoots at the snap distance. The manual lists a third option, Auto-Hi ISO, which also switches ISO to Auto-Hi for those full-press shots. It works with Multi AF, Spot AF, Pinpoint AF and Subject Tracking, but not in macro mode or with the self-timer.

Situation	Snap distance	Aperture
Crowds, markets, metro	1m or 1.5m	f/5.6
General street	2m	f/5.6 to f/8
Wider scenes, plazas	2.5m or 5m	f/8
Landscapes, skylines	∞	f/8

Our pick: 2m at f/5.6. It covers the distance where most street pictures happen. For the depth-of-field reasoning behind each distance, our snap focus and zone focusing guide works for the GR II too, because both cameras share the same 28mm-equivalent field of view.

ISO, Auto-Hi and noise

The GR II has two auto modes, and the default is the weaker one. According to the manual, plain Auto stays between ISO 100 and 800. Auto-Hi lets you choose the ceiling yourself: maximum ISO from 200 to 25,600, minimum from 100 to 12,800, and a Change Shutter Speed threshold from Auto through 1/2 to 1/250 sec, below which the camera raises ISO.

How high is safe? Photography Blog's 2015 review found the GR II's JPEGs noise-free from ISO 100 to 1600, with ISO 3200 "also looking pretty good," and ISO 6400 and above noisier but still usable. That gives a simple rule:

Situation	Auto-Hi max	Change Shutter Speed
Daylight street	ISO 3200	1/250 sec
Dusk, indoors	ISO 3200	1/125 sec
Night streets	ISO 6400	1/60 sec

The GR II has no stabilization listed in Ricoh's specs, so the shutter threshold does real work. We use 1/125 sec as the everyday value because it freezes walking people at 28mm.

Dynamic Range Compensation (Off, Auto, Weak, Medium, Strong) protects highlights, and Photography Blog found it adds noticeable range. The manual lists two catches: it limits available ISO (at 1EV steps, Weak and Medium start at ISO 200 and Auto and Strong at ISO 400), and it makes Auto-Hi behave like plain Auto. Leave it Off by default and turn on Weak for harsh midday light.

Effects and Image Settings: the GR II color setup

The GR II has no Image Control menu. Instead, it splits color into two places, and the manual is clear that an active Effect overrides Image Settings.

Image Settings offers Vivid, Standard and two custom slots, Setting1 and Setting2, where you can adjust saturation, contrast, sharpness and vignetting. Photography Blog found the files "a little soft" at the default Normal sharpening, so save a Setting1 with sharpness one or two steps up if you shoot mostly JPEG.

Effects carry the character. Ricoh lists 17 of them; these are the ones worth knowing for film-like JPEGs:

Effect	Look (from the manual)	Adjustable
Positive Film	Highly saturated, like slide film	Saturation, contrast, sharpness, vignetting
Bleach Bypass	Low saturation, high contrast	Hue, saturation, contrast, sharpness, vignetting
Retro	Like old photos	Saturation, contrast, sharpness, vignetting
Cross Process	Shifted, unreal colors	Hue, saturation, contrast, sharpness, vignetting
Hi-Contrast B&W	Contrasty, grainy, like pushed film	Contrast, sharpness, vignetting
B&W (TE)	Toned black and white	Toning, saturation, contrast, sharpness, vignetting

There is no Negative Film, no grain slider outside Hi-Contrast B&W, and no shading or high/low key controls. Two more details from the manual: effects are not applied to RAW files, and Hi-Contrast B&W, Cross Process, Positive Film, Bleach Bypass and Retro all disable Subject Tracking. That is one more reason to live in Spot AF.

Our pick for color: Positive Film with saturation lowered a step or two, which tames its slide-film punch for everyday streets. For black and white: Hi-Contrast B&W, the classic GR look. Shoot RAW+JPEG so you can rebuild any frame later with the in-camera RAW Development menu. Our RAW vs JPEG guide explains when the JPEG alone is enough.

Custom setup: Fn buttons, ADJ lever and My Settings

Photography Blog called the GR II "one of the most customisable compact cameras" it had reviewed, and the manual backs that up. Out of the box, the ADJ lever holds ISO, picture size, focus and metering, Fn1 holds FA/Move Target, and the Effect button holds Effect. Firmware 2 added a Flash Button Setting, so the flash button can take any function the Fn buttons accept.

What we would assign:

Control	Function
Fn1	AF/Snap (switch focus methods with one press)
Fn2	28/35/47 mm crop
Effect button	Effect
ADJ lever	ISO, Snap Focus Distance, Dynamic Range Comp, metering

Then save complete setups. The mode dial has MY1, MY2 and MY3, and the My Settings Box stores six more setups in the camera. We would use MY1 for daytime color street (the table at the top), MY2 for night (Auto-Hi to 6400, 1/60 sec, Snap at 2m) and MY3 for Hi-Contrast B&W. Our custom user modes guide shows the same three-slot logic on the GR III's U1 to U3.

Mistakes we see all the time

• Leaving ISO on Auto. Its ISO 800 ceiling forces slow shutter speeds on a camera without stabilization. Use Auto-Hi.
• Trusting Multi AF on the street. It focuses on the nearest thing, not the most important one.
• Forgetting that Effects override Image Settings. If your sharpness change "does nothing," an Effect is active.
• Shooting JPEG only with an Effect on. Effects are baked in. RAW+JPEG gives you a way back.
• Turning on Dynamic Range Compensation and wondering why Auto-Hi stopped working. It turns Auto-Hi into plain Auto.
• Expecting GR III recipes to load as written. No Negative Film, no grain or key sliders. Rebuild the look by eye.

In short

The best Ricoh GR II settings are Spot AF with Full Press Snap at 2m, Auto-Hi ISO capped at 3200 with a 1/125 sec switch, and Positive Film or Hi-Contrast B&W saved into the MY slots. Those changes fix the camera's two weak spots, low-light focusing and the timid default ISO, without giving up the speed that made it a street classic. Still deciding whether to keep yours? Our Ricoh GR II buying guide weighs it against the GR III and GR IV on price and features.

Our presets are built for the GR III, GR IIIx and GR IV, where the full Image Control menu runs every value as written. If you move up, start with the Classic Chrome recipe ($3.99) for muted documentary color, or get it with Kodak Chrome and Reggie's Color Negative in the Street Essentials bundle ($8.99).