Snap focus

Snap focus fixes the lens at a distance you choose — say two metres — so the camera shoots the moment you press the button instead of focusing first. It is an old idea borrowed from film cameras.

The distances

Ricoh lists snap distances of 0.3m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m, 5m and infinity. You pick one and the camera sticks to it.

• 1.5m–2m — people at chatting distance. The most generally useful setting.
• 2.5m — a little more margin when your subject moves around.
• 5m — wider scenes, or something across the road.
• Infinity — views, buildings, anything far away.
• 0.3m — close-up detail, though for really close work see macro mode.

Full Press Snap — the part people miss

Full Press Snap is what makes snap focus practical, rather than a mode you have to remember to turn on. With it enabled, pressing the button halfway still focuses normally — but pressing it all the way down in one go fires instantly at your set distance instead.

You get both behaviours from one button, chosen by how you press it. Turn this on before anything else.

Why aperture matters here

Snap focus works because a zone around your chosen distance comes out acceptably sharp — not just that exact point. How deep that zone is depends on the aperture. Wide open at f/2.8 it is narrow. At f/5.6 or f/8 it is deep enough that guessing the distance slightly wrong stops mattering. That is why snap focus and bright daylight go together, and why it gets harder after dark.

The GR III and later let you save a snap distance together with a depth setting and recall both at once — the deepest option sets the lens so that almost everything from a couple of metres to the horizon is sharp.

Focus Limiter

If you would rather use autofocus but stop it hunting across the whole range, the Focus Limiter restricts it to the near or far side. It is a middle ground between full autofocus and committed snap focus.

A setup that works

1. Set snap distance to 2m.
2. Turn Full Press Snap on.
3. In daylight, set the aperture to f/5.6 or f/8.
4. Set Auto ISO with an upper limit you trust, and a minimum shutter speed around 1/125.
5. Save the lot to U1 so it is one dial click away. Setting up U modes →

Snap distances above are as published for the GR IVx; the feature and its distance options are consistent across the current range. Where a specific body differs, its own specification page is the reference.