Ricoh GRIV First impressions
written by owen, published 2026-Apr-22, comment
After 6 months of waiting the new GR4 camera finally arrived. The box is smaller because the manual is now online - no biggy. You get a thick USBc cable, a battery and the camera itself which is pretty much all you need to get off the ground.
All my old GR3 accessories are now useless. I will have to find some way to sell them. Even the thumb grip that I used on the gr3 is slightly too big to fit the GR4 - I could work with it but the gap is noticeable. I will try to avoid buying extra stuff for this gr4 although I already bought 4 aftermarket batteries (came with 2 bricks), a screen protector, 4 micro SD cards (32gb each), and a front permanent stick-on UV filter for dust reduction.
The camera is basically the same as the GR3. It still struggles in the dark (for best results take your first pictures on a sunny day outside or in a bright room). The camera is still easy to drop out of your hand because it is so small, slightly smaller than the gr3. It is essential that you use a hand strap to keep it tied to you hand in case you accidentally drop it. The new battery and new processor is main upgrade but its only slight.
First thing I notice is that the camera does get warm pretty fast. The smaller size is noticeable and is probably making the heat reach your hand faster. The camera has internal memory which I used for the first few shots but I never use internal memory (if the camera dies the internal memory dies with it) so its not much of an advantage for me.
First Test shoot
I shot 1500 pictures at carnival 2026, 6 hours of shooting from morning to after lunch. I brought 4 extra batteries and 4 SD cards. I almost lost an SD card while switching cards in the middle of the street - they are super small and fiddly. I dropped a card on the street while changing but luckily I was on the sidewalk so I can clearly see where it fell.
By the end of the day I was on the last battery and filled 3 of the SD cards. I got most of the shots, missed a few. I did a video test and noticed that the camera lost focus a bit when someone walked across the shot and failed to re-focus - not sure why. Besides that the camera holds up, raw development is a bit annoying. Once configured it is as good as the GR3.
Cons
The price is likely the biggest con for most people. At $1500 usd + taxes and import fees this is not a cheap camera.
You cannot re-user your older GR3 accessories.
During Raw Development the camera asks you to select you save location after every edit - they should patch this out in an update because I edit alot of pictures in camera and this wastes time.
Conclusion
If you never used a Ricoh GR before, the 3 is basically the same as the 4. If you are currently on the GR3, the 4 will be a slight boost at the cost of buying all new accessories again (+$300). My GR3 had 83000 shots in 4 years and I dropped it about 8 times before it caught the lens error issue. We will see how long this GR4 survives. The GR4 is definitely better but not much better.
You also need to consider that I have ALOT of experience with the GR3. Thousands of hours of hands on with the camera means that I am comparing apples to apples. If you are coming from another camera system or an older point and shoot your impression might be more dramatic than mine. Also if you have not mastered your camera system you are still chasing bunnies.
I will attach a few pictures I took from the day below which were shot SOOC with positive or HI-Contrast BW filters applied. I edit my HCBW to reduce the contrast.
