My Ricoh GR Camera Settings for Street Photography
My Ricoh GR Street Photography Settings Guide
What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante.
Today I’m gonna be giving you my Ricoh GR settings for street photography. These are the exact settings I use daily, and I genuinely believe they’re the best for the Ricoh GR series.
If you follow along, get your Ricoh out, go into the menus, and dial this in while watching or reading—
you will have more success in your street photography.
Because this is about speed, simplicity, and seamless workflow.
Why These Settings Matter
“You’re gonna be like that man, smiling, full of joy, whipping out the Ricoh like a pistol, like you’re John Wick on the street.”
This camera lives in my pocket. It’s not about obsessing over gear. It’s about flow.
These exact settings have helped me shoot more than ever in over a decade of practicing street photography.
The photos I show were all taken with these settings. They’re your blueprint.
And no—settings don’t make you a better photographer.
But…
“I can 100% guarantee you that you’re going to at least come home with something that’s aesthetically beautiful.”
🔧 Shooting Mode
- Mode: Aperture Priority (
Av) - GR III: Aperture set to
f/8 - GR IIIx: Aperture set to
f/9 - Auto ISO:
- Max ISO:
6400 - Min Shutter Speed:
1/500
I usually shoot in Av, sometimes switch to P mode for pure point-and-shoot flow.
Adjust aperture using the front wheel.
🎯 Focus Settings
- Focus Mode: Snap Focus
- Snap Distance:
2m - Face Detection: Off
- Full Press Snap: Off
- AF Assist Light: Off
“With f/8 and 2m snap, everything’s in focus. Point and shoot. It’s incredible.”
No green lights. No distractions. Just instinct and rhythm.
☀️ Metering & Exposure
- Metering Mode: Highlight-weighted
- ND Filter: Auto
- Exposure Compensation: Use rear adjustment lever
- Right = overexpose
- Left = underexpose
“Expose for the highlights, crush the shadows. I’m interested in what’s in the light.”
🔢 ISO Settings
- ISO Auto Max:
6400 - ISO Auto Min:
400 - Min Shutter Speed:
1/500
Let the camera do the work. You just compose and shoot.
🖼️ File Format
- Format:
JPEG only - Size:
Small JPEG—3360x2240px - Aspect Ratio:
3:2
“Small JPEG is the key. Lightning fast import. 4MB files. No more hard drive headaches.”
This is why I can sort, upload, and share so easily from my iPad.
You don’t need RAW. You need speed.
🎨 Image Control
Mode: High Contrast B&W
Here’s my dialed-in image control settings:
- High/Low Key:
-2 - Contrast:
+4 - Highlight Contrast:
-4 - Shadow Contrast:
0 - Sharpness:
+4 - Clarity:
+4 - Shading:
+4 - Grain Effect:
3
“I’m cranking everything to the max. This is where that timeless look comes from.”
🎛 Custom Button Layout
Adjustment Lever:
- Press: Adjust Snap Focus Distance
- Right/Left: Exposure compensation
FN Button:
- Toggle between Snap Focus and Single Point AF
D-Pad:
- Top, Left, Right: Off
- Bottom: Auto WB (default)
“Keep your camera clean. No distractions. Just the essentials.”
🖐 LCD Touch Settings
- Touch Operation: On
- Touch AF: Off
Use your finger to swipe through photos, but avoid accidental AF touches.
📷 Shooting Info Display
- Display Style: Minimal
- Grid:
4x4
“You want to see your aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and snap distance. That’s it.”
⛔ Playback & Sound Settings
- Playback Info Display: All off
- Shutter Sound: On
- Other Sounds: Off
- Volume:
0
Stay silent. Be discreet.
💡 Final Thoughts
“The Ricoh, when set up this way, is the closest thing to not having a camera at all.”
Just press the shutter. That’s it.
No menus. No fiddling. No thinking.
Just seeing. Feeling. Acting.
I’ll be sharing my full iPad workflow soon, too—what I do after I shoot, how I select, back up, and share.
If these settings help you, share it with someone else. Set their Ricoh up too. Spread the flow.
“The easier you make your life, the better your photographs will get.”
Peace.
– Dante
🥩 Dante’s Slow-Cooker Beef Short Ribs (Carnivore Style)
🥩 Slow-Cooker Beef Short Ribs (Carnivore Style)
A dead-simple, no-nonsense short rib recipe. Deep sear, clean ingredients, long slow cook. Rich, tender, and packed with flavor.
Ingredients
- Beef short ribs
- Beef tallow
- Hardcore Carnivore Black seasoning
- Grass-fed beef bone broth
Instructions
1. Heat & Render
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (400°F)
- Add a generous scoop of beef tallow
- Let it fully melt and get hot
2. Sear
- Place short ribs in the pot
- Sear all sides for ~2 minutes each
- Aim for a deep, dark crust
3. Season
- Season generously with Hardcore Carnivore Black while the meat is hot
4. Add Broth
- Pour in bone broth until it reaches about halfway up the ribs
- Do not fully submerge
5. Slow Cook
- Switch to Slow Cook (Low)
- Cook for 8 hours
Result
Fork-tender meat, collagen-rich broth, and deep beef flavor. Eat straight from the pot or reduce the remaining liquid into a rich sauce.
Notes
- Tallow provides high-heat stability and flavor
- Long cooking time breaks down connective tissue into gelatin
- Minimal ingredients, maximum nourishment
Street Photography in the Snow (Ricoh GRIII)
Street Photography in the Snow: Finding Order in Chaos
What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante.
Today I want to walk you through some street photography from a Philly snow day yesterday — January 25, 2026. I grabbed the Ricoh GR III, shot high-contrast black and white small JPEGs, everything cranked directly into the file, and just hit the streets.
Walking the River Trail
The first place I wanted to go was the River Trail along the Schuylkill. It leads right up to the Philadelphia Art Museum, where people sled down those crazy rocky steps from the Rocky movie.
I love this location. I come here all the time — sometimes weekly, sometimes every day. Just looking out toward the horizon reminds me how open the world is, how much there is to see, explore, and photograph.
Like the river constantly flowing, you can’t make the same photograph twice. Light changes. Seasons change. Snow falls. Even in a familiar place, you can still make something new — still make something from nothing.
There’s something powerful about this trail too. It’s one streamlined path. No left. No right. Just forward. That limitation actually creates infinite possibility for me.
Photographing Light, Shape, and Instinct
Lately my approach has shifted toward abstraction — photographing light itself as the subject. The ice forming on the river, the snow creating shapes — I’m drawn to geometry, form, and contrast.
What triggers me to photograph usually comes from the gut. A shape. A flash of light. I respond quickly. Program mode. Snap focus set to infinity. Loose. Fast. Instinctive.
I’m not trying to control things too much.
The First Frame at the Art Museum
When I arrived at the bottom of the steps, the first person I saw was this man dancing in the snow with his music. Just pure energy. I had to make a photograph.
I caught him jumping into the snow, arm flailing — a perfect way to start the day.
People were everywhere. Hundreds of them. Sledding, falling, yelling, laughing. Total chaos.
Avoiding the Obvious Moment
Here’s the thing: the sledding itself is the obvious moment. And I’m not really interested in that.
What I’m interested in is what happens after — the shuffle. People picking up their sleds. Resetting. Moving through each other. That in-between energy.
I started looking at how people formed patterns. How shapes related across the foreground, middle ground, and background. That’s where it got interesting.
Street photography becomes a puzzle when everything is chaotic.
Creating Order in Chaos
One frame that really stuck with me was this moment of a boy picking himself up. It wasn’t about his face — it was about the gesture, the shape his body made, the rhythm of feet moving in stride.
I made sure to layer the frame:
- People filling the foreground
- Sledders drifting through the background
- The art museum anchoring the top of the frame
- The snowy stairs acting as a clean, white backdrop
That white space simplified everything and made the silhouettes pop.
Exposure as a Tool
Practically speaking, I was shooting with exposure compensation around +1.7, highlight-weighted metering, AV mode, snap focus at two meters, when I made this second photograph of the girl.
I wanted the background blown out so I could reveal faces and gestures in the foreground. Exposure became a way to isolate emotion inside chaos.
The frame came together through a simple raised hand — a man throwing his arm up after coming down the hill. Small gesture. Big payoff.
Peripheral Vision and In-Between Moments
I spent most of my time on the outskirts, watching the periphery. A girl getting snow dumped out of her boot by her mother. A simple gesture that stood out against a bright, noisy background.
These moments weren’t loud. They were quiet, human, and full of shape.
Moving to the Top of the Hill
After that, I went up top and looked out toward the skyline. I saw a dog playing with its owner and made a quick, tilted frame — candid, loose, and immediate.
Two people chugging beers on a staircase — I literally slid down the stairs to get the shot. No other way to make the frame.
A couple throwing snowballs. One falls. The man picks her up. She smiles. I noticed someone standing on a ledge and made a quick relationship between foreground and background.
Again — always looking for relationships.
The Process Matters
I even made a photo of a sled — a trash can lid. People were sledding on trash bags, cardboard boxes, laundry bins — anything they could find. It’s such a Philly thing.
The two frames I liked the most from the day were both about the shuffle at the bottom of the hill. That chaotic toss-up of people moving, gathering, resetting.
I’ve been building a little collection of snow photos like this over the years — 2024, 2025, and now 2026.
Final Thoughts
Photographing in the snow is fun — but also challenging. There’s so much obvious action. The real challenge is not photographing the obvious thing.
For me, it’s about:
- Shapes and forms
- Faces and gestures
- The moments in between
It’s a constant game of assembling a visual puzzle.
I was exhausted after this day. Slept 10–12 hours. Fully crashed. Feeling good now.
Just wanted to turn the camera on and share how my mind works in these environments.
Maybe I’ll go back out today.
I’ll see you in the next one.
Peace.
Street Photography Is a Long Game — Why Time, Patience, and Consistency Matter
Street Photography Is a Long Game
What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante.
Today I want to talk about street photography as a long game — and how photography requires a lot of time spent out there in the world.
Practicing photography requires time building a strong body of work. It takes patience, commitment, and continuity. It means consistently practicing daily.
I’ve been shooting every single day for over a decade now. I’ve pretty much never missed a day. And 99% of the time, I come home with nothing. There’s hardly ever a moment where I look at a photo and think, wow, that’s great. Those moments are far and few between.
That’s normal.
Trust Time. Trust the Process.
I really want to highlight the simple fact that you need to trust time and trust the process.
If you’re out there putting in the work, eventually you will come home with something great. But it requires patience. It requires embracing the process as the foundation.
The passage of time — the reps of walking and photographing — that’s the foundation for any great collection of photographs.
You can look at the work of any great photographer and see it clearly: time spent out in the world. Most books aren’t made in a year. They’re made over seven, ten, even thirty years.
The archive you’re dreaming of isn’t going to happen overnight. Not in a week. Not in a year. It’s going to take years of daily commitment.
Consistency Is the Real Power
As a street photographer, you’re only in control of so much.
You’re not in control of whether something interesting happens.
You’re not in control of whether you make a great photo.
What you are in control of is showing up.
Walking. Seeing. Observing. Pressing the shutter.
That’s why I encourage you to photograph every day. Just have the camera with you. In my personal practice, I carry a compact camera — the Ricoh GR — in my pocket. I’m always on. Always looking.
If you’re consistently taking pictures, you’re already productive.
Don’t worry about whether the photo is great. Worry about staying in the flow state. That compounds over time.
Over five to ten years of daily commitment, something special will show up.
Keepers Are Rare — And That’s Normal
A few keepers per month. Maybe one per year. Sometimes even less.
That’s completely normal.
There’s a myth of the perfect shot. It doesn’t exist. You’re going to mostly fail — and that’s part of it.
Street photography requires a resilient, almost stoic mindset. You recognize what you’re in control of:
- Walking more
- Looking more
- Pressing the shutter more
That’s it.
Time Makes the Work
Look at long-term bodies of work.
Alex Webb’s Mexico work — over 30 years.
Jason Eskenazi’s Wonderland — nearly a decade.
There’s something about the passage of time that allows these bodies of work to exist.
Social media makes it feel like everything happens fast. Like people just pop off overnight. But real work takes time.
I still consider myself an amateur. I haven’t made a book yet. Because I believe it takes time — not just to make the work, but to understand what it means.
Photography as a Lifelong Project
I like to think about photography as a lifelong project.
Not about greatest hits.
Not about perfection.
But about longevity.
One of my favorite photographers is Daido Moriyama. I have his complete works on my desk — volumes one through four. Thousands of images. Hundreds of books.
When you look at a full archive like that, you really feel the commitment.
Brick by brick. Stone by stone. Eventually, you build the cathedral.
Let Go of Perfection
Lately, I’ve been photographing in a new way.
High-contrast black and white. JPEGs. Everything baked in-camera.
I’m treating photographs as instant sketches of life — light as the subject.
By letting go of perfection and control, I’m allowing myself to make more photographs. And by making more, I stay in flow.
I’ve never been this prolific.
This photo here was made in Coney Island. Gritty. Raw. Honest. Straight out of camera. No endless processing. What I capture is the final piece.
This simplified workflow lets photography fit into my everyday life — and that’s the key.
Set Realistic Expectations
When I look back at seven years of color work, there are less than 50 photographs I truly care about.
That’s okay.
Kill your darlings. Let go of what you thought was great. Results take time.
Street photography is grueling. You mostly come home with nothing. But that’s why I love it.
It requires consistency. It requires obsession.
Just Press the Shutter
When in doubt — press the shutter more.
That’s my motto.
I’m not chasing my next best photo. I just show up. I enjoy the walks. The espresso breaks. The conversations. The play.
Photography doesn’t need to be so serious.
Trust the process. Trust time.
Thanks for watching.
I’ll see you in the next one.
Peace.
Play life like it’s hardcore mode in Video game
no HUD, no intel? Imagine like you’re just open world exploring without a map without the guide book etc. basically just leave your phone at home the whole time and the only way to figure shit out is by interacting with NPC