Ricoh GR IV Best Settings: Sn Mode, Focus, Shutter

Our pick: save this table to USER1 with your everyday color recipe. It is the setup you can leave on all day.

Snap Distance Priority (Sn): the mode to use for street

Sn is the GR IV's new exposure mode, and the manual describes it plainly: focus is fixed to Snap, one dial sets the snap focus distance, the other chooses one of three depth-of-field levels, and exposure compensation sits on the third control. The camera picks aperture and shutter speed for you. DPReview calls it a key feature for the people who buy this camera, and we agree: it turns zone focusing from a menu setting into a mode.

Ricoh does not publish which apertures the three depth-of-field levels use, so think in distances instead. To choose them, here is our own depth-of-field math for the 18.3mm lens (28mm equivalent), using a 0.02mm circle of confusion:

Snap distance	At f/5.6, sharp from	At f/8, sharp from
1.5m	1.0m to 3.0m	0.9m to 5.2m
2m	1.2m to 6.0m	1.0m to 38m
2.5m	1.4m to 15m	1.1m to infinity
3.5m	1.6m to infinity	1.3m to infinity

That is why we keep the default 2.5m: at f/8, everything from just over a meter to the horizon is acceptably sharp. At dusk, when the camera opens up, switch to 2m. Our snap focus and zone focusing guide explains the technique; on the GR IV, Sn simply puts it one turn of the dial away.

If you prefer to control the aperture yourself, use Av at f/8 with Full Press Snap on. It gets you almost the same result, and you keep autofocus on a half-press.

Autofocus: Zone Select plus Full Press Snap

The GR IV lists eight focus options: Auto-area AF, Zone Select AF, Select AF, Pinpoint AF, Tracking AF, Continuous AF, MF and Snap, plus infinity. Our choice for each job:

Situation	Focus mode	Why
Street, travel	Zone Select AF	You place a 3x3 block; the camera picks inside it
Portraits, faces	Auto-area AF with Face/Eye	Detection only runs where it helps
Small details, through glass	Pinpoint AF	Smaller area than Select AF
Kids, pets	Continuous AF, Focus Priority	Fewer out-of-focus frames
Fast action	Snap at 2m, f/8	More reliable than tracking

Two reasons for the last row. DPReview found single AF "generally quick and accurate," but continuous AF "far more likely to hunt," and tracking "well off the pace for modern cameras." Its face and eye detection also only recognizes people facing the camera. So for anything fast, depth of field is a better bet than the AF system.

Full Press Snap is on by default, and you should leave it there. A half-press focuses normally; a quick full press fires at your snap distance. The manual lists where it switches off: in Sn mode (which is already snap), in movies, in macro, with MF, Snap or infinity focus, and with the self-timer.

Three smaller settings make focus faster to use:

• Face/Eye Detection: Use only in Auto-area. Otherwise it can pull focus away from the zone or point you picked.
• 4-way controller: AF Point Change Priority (D2). The arrow keys then move the AF point without pressing OK first.
• Touch AF (D2): AF Point+Focus. The default only moves the point. If you shoot from the hip, Full Press Snap on Touch AF lets a tap fire at the snap distance.

Exposure, ISO and the shutter

Ricoh lists ISO 100 to 204800, with the Auto ISO floor, ceiling and minimum shutter speed all adjustable. The manual's defaults are ISO 100, ISO 12800 and 1/30 sec. Keep the first two. Change the third:

Situation	Mode	ISO Auto upper	Min. shutter
Daylight street	Sn or Av f/8	12800	1/250 sec
Overcast, indoors	Av f/5.6	12800	1/125 sec
Night streets	Av f/2.8 to f/4	12800	1/60 sec
Still scenes at night	Av f/2.8	6400	1/15 sec

DPReview reports up to six stops from the 5-axis Shake Reduction, up from four on the GR III. That is why the last row works: you can hold a slow shutter for a building or a lit window at a lower ISO. Stabilization does nothing for a person walking through the frame, though, so 1/30 sec is too slow as a street default. Our night photography guide covers the rest of the after-dark setup.

ND filter: Auto. The built-in filter cuts 2 EV, and Auto lets the camera use it only when the scene calls for it.

The electronic shutter. Firmware 1.11, released on February 13, 2026, added an electronic shutter that runs up to 1/16000 sec. There is nothing to set: at f/2.8 to f/4 the camera uses the mechanical shutter up to 1/2500 sec and switches to electronic from 1/3200 sec. Ricoh warns that fast subjects like cars and trains can look slanted under the electronic shutter. If you see that, stop down to f/5.6 or turn the ND to On. Update the camera if your shutter stops at 1/4000 sec.

Metering: Multi-segment for most scenes. Use Highlight-weighted when bright signs or windows sit in the frame. Exposure compensation runs to plus or minus 5 EV in 1/3 EV steps for stills.

Image Control, custom slots and user modes

The GR IV has three Custom slots for Image Control and for white balance, one more than the GR III. Use them for three fixed looks: daylight color, night color and black and white. Our GR IV recipes guide lists which recipes to load first and covers the two new Cinema modes.

Then save three complete setups to USER1, USER2 and USER3:

User mode	Exposure and focus	Image Control
U1, day	Sn, 2.5m, Min. shutter 1/250 sec	Custom 1: everyday color
U2, night	Av f/2.8, snap 2m, 1/60 sec	Custom 2: tungsten night look
U3, mono	Sn, 2.5m, 1/250 sec	Custom 3: black and white

The menus work like the GR III's; our U1, U2, U3 guide walks through saving and renaming them.

Buttons. DPReview calls the ADJ menu "this camera's secret weapon." In ADJ Mode Setting (D2), put Snap Focus Distance, Image Control, ISO, AE Metering and Touch AF there. Put the 35mm crop on a Fn button: it is a quick second focal length, at the cost of pixels.

Storage. With 53GB of internal memory, set Recording Memory to internal priority and keep a microSD card as backup. Shooting RAW+JPEG fills it faster, but you keep a RAW you can re-develop in camera with a different Image Control later.

Ricoh GR IV video settings

Video is the GR IV's weakest area. Ricoh lists Full HD at 60p, 30p or 24p in H.264, up to 25 minutes or 4GB per clip, and DPReview gives it 5 out of 10. It is still usable for short clips if you set it up correctly:

Setting	Our value	Why
Framerate	24p (60p for slow motion)	Film cadence
Focus (B1)	AF, or Snap at 2.5m for walking shots	Snap avoids hunting
Touch AF	On	Refocus by tapping while recording
Movie SR	On	Steadier handheld clips
Sound Recording	Off, unless you need audio	On by default, records operation sounds
White Balance	Fixed, not Auto	No color shift mid-clip
Image Control	Same recipe as stills	Matching look

Three details from the manual change how you shoot. Movies are always recorded in Program mode, whatever the dial says. Exposure compensation is limited to plus or minus 2 EV. And a half-press does not lock exposure in video: the AEL button does. Recording can also stop if the camera gets hot, so keep clips short in summer sun.

Mistakes we see all the time

• Leaving the minimum shutter speed at 1/30 sec. Fine for buildings, too slow for people. Use 1/125 sec or faster.
• Ignoring Sn mode. It is the most useful new control on the camera for street photographers.
• Trusting Tracking AF for fast subjects. Pre-focus with snap and f/8 instead.
• Running Face/Eye Detection in Zone Select AF. Limit it to Auto-area.
• Skipping firmware 1.11. Without it, the shutter tops out at 1/4000 sec.
• Leaving Sound Recording on. Every button press ends up in your clip.

In short

The best Ricoh GR IV settings are Sn mode or Av at f/8, Zone Select AF with Full Press Snap at 2.5m, and Auto ISO with a 1/125 sec minimum, saved to USER1 with your favorite recipe. Use the third Custom slot and the three user modes to keep day, night and monochrome setups one turn of the dial away. For the camera itself, read our Ricoh GR IV review, and if you are still choosing between bodies, our GR IV vs GR III comparison.

Every Ricoh Presets recipe runs unchanged on the GR IV. For Custom 1, start with Reggie's Color Negative ($1.99), our everyday color look. For Custom 2, the Night & Cinema bundle ($7.99) covers neon and tungsten streets.