I noticed the startup and auto focus speed immediately as well. Its a nice upgrade for sure, but won’t change anything for really.
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After setting up the GR IV, I am once again reminded of a few brilliant features of this little camera.
For example, you can explicitly control which settings reset to defaults when you power off the camera, and which stay adjusted. Such a simple thing, so useful.
The snap focus feature is great, too. A simple default distance the lens will focus at if you mash the shutter release without waiting for AF. I want that for all cameras.
And DNG raw files that just work everywhere.
Now I’ve had time to review yesterday’s pictures, too. Impressively, focus was only missed twice in 250 pictures. That’s indeed a far cry from the GR III, where I would have expected dozens of missed frames. (I usually shoot fast and blind, and don’t check my focus in the field)
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I also went out yesterday, but didn’t take a single frame 
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As you can see that just the way it is.
Wow, I am discerning, I should not be punished
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My OM-5 has a similar feature called PreMF, which you can assign to a button. You lock in a certain focus distance, save it, and then recall it when pressing the assigned button. I have not used it in practice and don’t know if it’s any better than just using AF, but it sounds like it’s essentially the same as Snap Focus on the GR. Is there anything else about the Snap feature other than it being a set distance?
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I think the difference may be that with the GR, the snap focus can be set to activate just by clicking the shutter button fully immediately, rather than – in standard operation – pressing to engage autofocus briefly with a half press and then fully pressing to release the shutter.
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On the GR, when snap focus is set, that’s it, that is where the focus is set. If you want to change the distance, you need to change that setting. Its basically a fixed focus distance, I would hazard a guess it doesn’t even engage the auto focus at all.
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Yes, I think that’s the case
I’m fairly sure that’s how it works with the OM-5 too. Once you have set the initial preset MF distance (or entered a distance manually in the settings, e.g. 5 metres), it’s then set at that distance until you want to change it again.
The AF doesn’t work when you’re in PreMF mode, so nothing is engaging when you press the shutter button. So, is that how it works with the GR?
With the GR you have the choice on the fly. Hard press and its snap mode, soft press and autofocus engages. Not that I use it much because I don’t do a lot of street and my zone-focussing skills are lacking but when I have, it works surprisingly well.
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OK, so that does sound a bit different, yes. With the OM-5, you still have the option to use AF by pressing the AF-On button (essentially back-button focus), but the shutter button will just do the preset MF. So two fingers are needed instead of one but still very quick and easy to do.
My main question is whether it’s any better than just using regular MF mode with back-button AF. With the OM-5 and my X-T5 (and probably other brands too), the back button can still be used for AF even when in manual focus mode. So, if you’re standing on one side of the street, you can point at the other side, press the back button to lock in the focus, then just use the shutter button repeatedly to shoot without AF engaging and while maintaining that same focus distance. I’m yet to see a benefit to the PreMF over this method, but maybe there is one…?
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Yes. What you describe is how I use all cameras that allow for back button focus, including the GR. I suppose the only difference is that if you’re walking with the GR in your hand and something happens in front of you, you can just mash the shutter button and know it will focus at 3 metres or whatever. Though I’ve never really done this except to try it out. Some GR street photographers say they only use snap focus
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I would say the Ricoh’s snap focus was much more relevant for the GR I and II, and the GRDs before that. Even with the III, I found AF fast and reliable enough to only seldomly use snap focus.
Now I just use Snap Focus as a convenient way of manually focusing a one-handed camera (which is aided by the large DOF of the 18mm f/2).
A two-handed camera doesn’t need it. But it’s a neat feature regardless. I like it when manufacturers think outside of the box and find clever solutions.
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Features like this are why I have a soft spot for the minor players in the camera market. They have a dedicated user base and keep them happy with goodies like this that don’t cost them anything but provide significant convenience.
In the meantime, the major players keep their lens ecosystems pretty much closed, cripple lower-end cameras, and would never even think about supporting DNG, even though they themselves could not provide a coherent argument why.
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In case of interest, there was a LUMIX S9 with the compact 18-40mm lens on Amazon Warehouse here so I ordered it just to see what it was like. As expected, I will be returning it for a refund even before trying to take any pics. It’s way too big for even a coat pocket, and practically not really that much smaller than a “proper” full frame mirrorless body even before adding the necessity of the accessory grip.
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Thanks for that, because I am actually interested in these real-world impressions.
The S9 is one of those FF bodies often cited as not much bigger than a crop body, and while that’s true, it comes at the cost of an EVF, and of course the lenses are what makes a kit compact or not.
For me, that camera makes too many compromises, and I can’t help resenting it a little because Panasonic should have made it a M4/3 camera 
I know they’re really pushing L mount these days, but I feel they would be best min/maxing their product range by having a compact M4/3 line and a full-size FF line, instead of trying to make their FF bodies compact and making their M4/3 bodies big and bulky…
Having said that, I would certainly consider a FF kit for walkabout/street photography if it can be compact enough and in my budget (the Sony RX1 is definitely not in my budget!). As it stands, I think there are better options with Ricoh, OM System, Fuji…
@TonyBarrett Are you going to take any pictures with it or just return it immediately?
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I’ll probably try tomorrow as the light was bad today, just to try out the sensor and lens.
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Don’t know what your budget is, but when it comes to being compact, that will only happen if you prefer smaller lenses. Those are usually the ones wider than 35mm, or at most 50mm.
Anything longer than that will not be compact anyway on full frame, and at the same time suffer from bad ergonomics. Long FF lenses are tricky to hold on a small body. Which rules out travel photography for me, I really want at least 100mm ff equiv… hence micro 4/3. It is not the body (though I agree that Panasonic could get its act together and make a smaller micro 4/3 body), it is the lenses.
If you are OK with wider lenses and want a compact FF camera, 7Artisans and TTartisan have nice small ones around 35-40mm for street, that I could imagine pairing with the Panasonic S9. But frankly, the Sony A7C makes much more sense to me in that context.
Personally, I still fighting daily temptations to get an older mid-range Olympus like you did recently 
I think about full frame, but know myself well enough to realize that I would not be using it.
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I’d love a GR IV 26.1mm. I expect they will produce one in a couple of years. Till then is there anything other than the III that comes close?