Fujifilm X100V vs Ricoh GR III: Which to Buy in 2026?

Our pick: the GR III for street photography, because the camera you carry every day beats the camera you leave at home. The X100V wins if you need a viewfinder, 35mm or video.

Size: the gap that decides it for most people

The numbers are blunt. The GR III is 221g lighter and about 20mm thinner than the X100V. It slides into a jacket pocket with no viewfinder hump or lens barrel to catch on the fabric. The X100V's lens and finder give it a rangefinder silhouette that looks beautiful and takes up a small bag.

For candid work this matters more than any sensor spec. A camera held at chest height and fired from a pocket-sized body draws far less attention than one raised to the eye. The GR III was designed for exactly that style of shooting.

28mm vs 35mm: choose the focal length first

The GR III's lens gives a 28mm-equivalent view, the X100V a 35mm-equivalent view. That one difference changes how you work more than anything else in this comparison.

At 28mm you have to step in close, and the frame pulls in the street around your subject: signs, doorways, other people. It suits immersive, close-range street and travel work. At 35mm the frame is tighter and calmer, easier for portraits and for subjects a few meters away.

You can approximate one from the other, at a cost. The GR III's 35mm crop mode leaves about 15.5MP of its 24.24MP sensor (our calculation), and the 50mm crop leaves about 7.6MP. If 35mm is your real focal length, the closer Ricoh answer is the 40mm GR IIIx. Our GR III vs GR IIIx comparison covers that choice.

Film simulations vs Image Control recipes

Color is why many people look at the X100V in the first place. Fujifilm lists 17 film simulation modes on the X100V, including Classic Chrome, Classic Neg., Eterna and Acros, and they are well tuned out of the box.

The GR III takes a different route. Its Image Controls (Positive Film, Negative Film, Retro, Hard Monotone, Bleach Bypass and others) start more neutral, but each one opens up a set of fine adjustments: saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast, separate highlight and shadow contrast, sharpness, shading, clarity and toning. That is more tuning than a Fuji simulation offers on its own, and it is why the recipe community on the Ricoh side has grown so quickly.

The separate highlight and shadow contrast controls are the key to a film look. Lower highlight contrast rolls off bright skies gently, while firmer shadow contrast keeps blacks dense. Fuji simulations bake a curve in; on the GR you build your own.

If you want Fuji colors on a Ricoh, this is how our presets line up:

Fuji simulation you like	Closest Ricoh Presets look	Price
Classic Chrome	Classic Chrome	$3.99
Classic Neg.	Reggie's Color Negative	$1.99
Nostalgic Neg.	Nostalgic Negative Film	$4.99
Velvia	Kodak Slide	$3.99
Acros	Ilford HP5 B&W	$3.99

Our Classic Chrome recipe pairs neutral saturation, a cool hue shift and a lifted key with a warm, amber-leaning white balance, which gives the muted, documentary palette that made the Fuji simulation famous. The exact tuned values are in the preset. For the full mapping of every Fuji simulation, see our guide to Fujifilm recipes vs Ricoh recipes.

Autofocus vs Snap Focus

DPReview's review of the X100V lists 425 on-sensor phase-detection points covering nearly the whole frame, plus face and eye detection, and praises its low-light autofocus. It also notes the camera can be too eager to find faces that aren't there, and face detection is unavailable through the optical finder. Even so, for moving subjects and eye-level portraits, the X100V has the more capable system.

The GR III uses hybrid AF (phase detection plus contrast detection) and adds the feature that makes it a street camera: Snap Focus. You set a distance, and a full press of the shutter fires at that distance without waiting for autofocus. Paired with a 28mm lens and a mid-range aperture, it gives you deep zone focus and instant capture. Our Snap Focus and zone focusing guide has the distances in detail, but this is the street setup we start from:

Setting	Value
Mode	Av (aperture priority)
Aperture	f/8 (f/5.6 in dim light)
Snap Focus distance	2m
Full Press Snap	On
ISO	Auto, upper limit 3200
Minimum shutter speed	1/250s
Shake Reduction	On

The X100V wins on tracking. The GR III wins on readiness: with Snap Focus there is nothing to wait for.

Handling, viewfinder and screen

The X100V has a top-plate shutter speed dial, an exposure compensation dial, an aperture ring, a tilting touchscreen and the hybrid viewfinder. If you like composing through a finder and setting exposure by touch before the camera is on, it is a joy to use. DPReview's main handling complaints are the removed four-way controller and complex menus.

The GR III is built for one-handed use from a fixed 3.0-inch LCD. There is no finder, so bright sun can make framing harder, and the screen doesn't tilt. The trade is speed: the thumb dial, ADJ lever and three user modes let you switch from a color recipe to black and white without looking at a menu.

Stabilization, battery, video and the rest

• Stabilization. The GR III has 3-axis sensor-shift Shake Reduction rated at 4 steps. The X100V has none, so the GR III has the edge for handheld dusk and interiors.
• Battery. About 200 shots for the GR III against 350 to 420 for the X100V. This is the GR III's biggest weakness; our battery life guide covers the settings that stretch it.
• Video. DCI 4K on the X100V against Full HD 60p on the GR III. If you shoot video regularly, the Fuji is the clear choice.
• ND filter. Both have one: 4 stops on the X100V, 2EV on the GR III.
• Weather and dust. The X100V becomes weather-resistant only with an adapter ring and filter, according to DPReview. The GR III is not sealed, and dust on the sensor is a known issue with its retracting lens.
• Flash. The X100V has a small built-in flash. The GR III has a hot shoe only.
• Macro. The GR III's macro mode focuses down to about 6cm, handy for food and details.

What about the X100VI and the GR IV?

The X100V has been followed by the X100VI, which Fujifilm lists with a 40.2MP sensor, 5-axis in-body stabilization rated up to 6.0 stops, 20 film simulations including REALA ACE, 6.2K video and digital teleconverter settings at 35, 50 and 70mm. It fixes the X100V's lack of stabilization but weighs about 521g with battery and card, so the size gap with any GR gets wider.

On the Ricoh side, the GR III is still listed by Ricoh USA at $1,049.95, but it showed as out of stock when we checked on October 21, 2026. Its successor, the GR IV, keeps the 28mm pocket format and improves stabilization, battery and startup; our GR IV review covers the upgrades. A used GR III remains the cheapest way into the system. Every recipe we sell works on the GR III, GR IIIx and GR IV.

Mistakes we see all the time

Buying for the spec sheet instead of the pocket. The X100V wins more rows in the table, but the GR III wins the row that matters most for street work: whether you actually carry it.

Using the GR III's crop mode as a 35mm lens. It works now and then, but if you crop to 35mm on most shots, you bought the wrong focal length.

Expecting Fuji color with default settings. The GR's Standard Image Control is neutral by design. Load a recipe into a user mode before judging its color.

Leaving autofocus on for fast street scenes. On the GR III, Snap Focus with Full Press Snap is faster than any AF system because the camera doesn't search at all.

In short

Buy the Ricoh GR III if you want the most pocketable APS-C street camera, like 28mm and value instant Snap Focus capture. Buy the Fujifilm X100V (or the X100VI) if you see at 35mm, want a viewfinder and dials, need 4K video or longer battery life, and don't mind a bag. If you are still deciding between compact cameras in general, our guide to the best point-and-shoot cameras compares the whole field.

Want Fuji-style color on your GR? Get the Classic Chrome recipe ($3.99), or get it with Kodak Chrome and Reggie's Color Negative in the Street Essentials bundle ($8.99).