Ricoh GR IIIx Guide: Best Settings, HDF and Recipes

The Ricoh GR IIIx is the GR for people who find 28mm too wide. Same pocketable body as the GR III, same APS-C sensor, but a 40mm-equivalent lens that frames the world the way you remember it rather than the way a wide angle exaggerates it. Five years after its announcement, it is still the only GR with that focal length.

This guide covers what the camera is, which version to buy, and how to set it up so it hands you finished, film-like JPEGs. Specs and prices come from Ricoh's own pages and DPReview's and PetaPixel's announcement coverage, all read on September 27, 2026. Our recipes are built on the GR III's Image Control menu, which the GR IIIx shares, so the settings sections are the ones we use ourselves.

Ricoh GR IIIx specs that matter

DPReview dates the announcement to September 8, 2021, at £899 in the UK. Here is what Ricoh Imaging Americas lists today:

Spec	Ricoh GR IIIx
Sensor	24.24MP APS-C CMOS (23.5 x 15.6mm)
Lens	26.1mm f/2.8 to f/16, approx. 40mm equivalent, 7 elements in 5 groups (2 aspherical)
Minimum focus	0.2m normal, 0.12 to 0.24m in macro
Stabilization	3-axis Shake Reduction, 4 stops
Crop modes	50mm, 71mm
ISO	100 to 102,400
Shutter	1/4000 to 30 sec, plus Bulb and Time
Battery	DB-110, approx. 200 shots
Storage	2GB internal (approx. 140 JPEGs) plus SD card
Screen	3.0-inch touchscreen, approx. 1.04 million dots
Weight	262g with battery and card, 232g body only
Size	109.4 x 61.9 x 35.2mm

Three numbers deserve attention. Two hundred shots per battery is the real limit of this camera: buy two spares. Four stops of stabilization is less than the GR IV's rating, but at 40mm it still lets you handhold at shutter speeds a phone could never manage. And 2GB of internal memory is a safety net, not a strategy: about 140 JPEGs, enough to rescue the day you forget the card.

What the table does not show is the autofocus. DPReview's launch coverage describes a hybrid phase- and contrast-detection system with face and eye detection, and the ability to pick the main subject by touch. At 40mm, where you frame people from a comfortable distance, that face detection earns its keep far more often than it does on a 28mm GR.

GR IIIx or GR IIIx HDF: which one to buy

In March 2024 Ricoh added an HDF version. DPReview and PetaPixel both report the same trade: the Highlight Diffusion Filter takes the place of the built-in 2-stop ND filter in the optical path. You cannot have both.

	GR IIIx	GR IIIx HDF
Built-in filter	2-stop ND	Highlight Diffusion Filter
Toggle	Menu or assigned button	Fn button by default
Shutter button	Black	Dark silver
Launch price (US)	not disclosed at announcement	$1,149.95 (March 2024)
Ricoh US list price, Sept. 27, 2026	not listed on the page we read	$1,349.95

The HDF diffuses highlight areas and blurs the edges of the image, which DPReview likens to a soft-focus film or vintage-movie look. In practice that means street lamps bloom, backlit hair glows, and daylight skin loses some of the digital bite that a sharp modern lens gives it.

Our pick: the HDF version if you shoot people, night scenes and warm film recipes; the standard version if you want daylight long exposures or wide apertures in hard sun. If you are unsure what you would lose, our guide to the GR III's built-in ND filter shows exactly what that filter does, and it works the same way on the GR IIIx.

The best Ricoh GR IIIx settings

This is the base setup we recommend before you load any recipe. It favors speed on the street and consistency between shots.

Setting	Value	Why
File format	RAW + JPEG	Keep the DNG as insurance while you learn the look
Image Control	Negative Film or Positive Film	The two most film-like bases
Focus mode	Auto-Area AF, or Zone Select AF	Zone Select lets you place a 3x3 zone where subjects will be
Snap Focus	On, full-press snap enabled	A full press skips AF for instant shots
Aperture for street	f/5.6 to f/8	40mm has less depth of field than 28mm at the same aperture
ISO	Auto, capped at 6400	High enough for night, low enough to keep grain pleasant
Crop	50mm assigned to a button	A second focal length in one press
Shake Reduction	On	Turn off only on a tripod
User mode	Recipe saved to U1	The whole look on one dial position

Two settings need a little more explanation.

Zone Select AF arrived in firmware version 1.41, according to Ricoh's firmware page, alongside three custom white balance slots (Custom 1, 2 and 3). If your camera is on older firmware, update it first: the latest version is 1.60, released October 23, 2025, which added a GF-2 flash exposure mode. Version 1.20 is the one that added the Negative Film Image Control, which Ricoh describes as a balance between the faded look of a print from negative film and well-defined colors.

Snap Focus at 40mm is less forgiving than on a GR III. Depth of field shrinks as focal length grows, so the zone that stays sharp at a given distance and aperture is narrower. Stop down one more click than you would at 28mm, and pick a snap distance that matches how close you actually work. Our Snap Focus and zone focusing guide walks through the distances and the full-press technique.

The crop modes are more useful here too. On a 24MP sensor, the 50mm crop keeps enough resolution for Instagram and prints up to a modest size, while 71mm is a reach tool for details and signage.

Best film recipes for the GR IIIx

Forty millimeters is a people and details lens, so the recipes that suit it lean toward skin tones, soft contrast and warm light. These four are from our own catalog, each built on Ricoh's Image Control.

Recipe	Base	Best for on the GR IIIx
Portra 160	Negative Film, shadow contrast -3, Shade WB	Portraits and daylight people shots
Rustic Portra 400	Retro, toning +3, sharpness -3	Golden hour, warm character portraits
Classic Chrome	Positive Film, key +3, 3700K	Muted street and documentary frames
Nostalgic Negative Film V2	Negative Film, highlight contrast -4	All-day shooting, pairs well with HDF

Our pick: Portra 160. At 40mm you spend more time photographing faces, and its pulled shadows and pastel palette flatter skin without looking processed. On an HDF body, try Nostalgic Negative Film V2 with the filter on after sunset: its low highlight contrast and the filter's bloom work together rather than against each other.

Because both cameras share the same menus, the numbers transfer unchanged. Our step-by-step on how to apply a recipe and save it to U1 is written for the GR III and applies line for line.

Where the GR IIIx sits in the GR lineup

The GR IV changed the 28mm side of the family with a new sensor, 5-axis stabilization and more internal storage, and our Ricoh GR IV review covers that upgrade in detail. None of it touches the GR IIIx's reason to exist: if you want 40mm in a pocket, this is still the camera.

If you are choosing between focal lengths rather than generations, read our GR III vs GR IIIx comparison. Short version: 28mm puts you inside a scene, 40mm lets you observe it from a normal distance. Neither is better. One of them will feel like yours within a week.

Mistakes we see all the time

Shooting 40mm like 28mm. Walking right up to people with a 40mm lens puts faces too close and too big. Step back half a pace and let the frame breathe.

Leaving the HDF on all day. The diffusion is lovely on backlit and night scenes and muddy on flat, overcast ones. Assign it to a button you can reach without looking and use it on purpose.

Trusting snap distances from 28mm guides. They assume more depth of field than this lens gives you. Test your distance at f/8 before a day out.

Running out of battery at 3pm. Two hundred shots goes fast when you review on the screen. Carry two charged spares and swap before the screen warns you.

Never saving to a user mode. If your recipe lives only in the Image Control menu, one accidental change ruins a day. Save it to U1, and put a second look in U2.

In short

The Ricoh GR IIIx is the pocket camera to buy if 40mm is how you see, and the HDF version is the one we would pick for people and night work. Update to firmware 1.60, set up Zone Select AF and Snap Focus with a smaller aperture than you would use at 28mm, and save one recipe to U1. For more looks that transfer straight across, start with our best GR III film recipes.

Ready to set yours up? Get the Portra 160 recipe ($4.99) for portraits, or get it together with both Nostalgic Negative Film recipes in the Negative Film Collection ($9.99).