GR IIIx Field Card

Recipes

40mm · zone focus · ● hold ○ float

Street Default

Snap focus, no menu, camera out of the pocket already shooting.

Min shutter1/500hold

Apertureautofloat

ISOautocap 6400

Mode: P, Auto ISO with min shutter 1/500
Focus: Snap Focus 2.5m, full-press snap on
Meter: Highlight-weighted in harsh sun, Multi otherwise
HDF: Off. The HDF body swaps the ND filter for the diffusion filter; it is a look you switch on deliberately, not a resting state.

Full-press snap means a hard jab on the shutter ignores AF entirely and fires at 2.5m. That is the whole point of the camera — no focus lag, no confirmation beep, no missed moment.
40mm equivalent is tighter than it feels. Step in closer than instinct says or everything comes back as a wide shot of nothing.
Battery life is genuinely bad. Two spares, always.
No weather sealing and it eats dust. Keep it in a pocket, not loose in a bag.

Running — In the Pack U1

Camera in hand the whole run, shooting alongside at your own pace.

Min shutter1/500hold

Aperturef/5.6hold

ISOautocap 6400

Mode: Av at f/5.6, Auto ISO, min shutter 1/500. Aperture pinned is what makes the snap zone predictable.
Focus: Snap Focus 2.5m, full-press snap. Never AF.
Meter: Multi. Spot and Center both assume aim you do not have one-handed.
Exp comp: +0.3 to +0.7 EV standing, +1.0 running into low sun
Grip: Wrist strap on, one hand, screen off between shots
WB: Fixed Daylight, not AWB
File: JPEG only

Running beside someone means they are nearly static relative to you. The motion you are fighting is your own bounce, not theirs. That is why the shutter stays fast even though nobody is moving across the frame.
Frame looser than feels right. One-handed at pace you cannot judge the edges, and heads end up clipped at the top. Leave a third more room and crop later — you have 24MP to give away.
Bake the exposure comp into U1. Sky-heavy frames pull Multi metering down and put faces in shadow, and dialing comp per shot while running is not happening. Set it once and accept some blown sky.
At 2.5m snap and f/5.6 the zone runs roughly 1.5m to 5m. That is arm's length to a few strides ahead, which is the whole conversation.
Fixed WB matters more than usual here. AWB drifts between frames and a set shot on one run should grade as one set.
Watch for what grows out of shoulders. Bins, poles, and signs are the recurring tax on shooting at eye level while moving.

Running — Head-On U2

Turned around, or stopped at a corner while they come to you.

Shutter1/1000hold

Aperturef/5.6hold

ISOautocap 6400

Mode: Av at f/5.6, Auto ISO, min shutter 1/1000
Focus: Snap Focus 3.5m, full-press snap. Do not use AF.
Meter: Multi, or Highlight-weighted in open sun
Drive: Continuous, short bursts
File: JPEG only. The buffer fills fast in RAW.

AF is the wrong tool here. The GR hunts too slowly for a runner closing on you. Snap focus fires instantly at a fixed distance, so you pick the spot and shoot when they reach it.
At f/5.6 with snap at 3.5m, roughly 2m to 7m holds sharp. Two runners closing on each other covers that in about a second, so fire a short burst rather than trying to time one frame.
1/1000 freezes the limbs. 1/500 holds the torso but smears feet and hands, which sometimes looks better anyway.
Get low, around knee height. Runners shot from standing eye level look like they are out for a walk.
40mm fills the frame late, so commit to a spot and let them come to it. Chasing them with the camera at this focal length does not work.

Running — Pan U3

Standing still only. This one does not work from inside the pack.

Shutter1/60hold

Aperturef/16full sun

ISO100hold

Mode: M — 1/60, ISO 100, aperture set to the light. Tv would let the aperture wander and take the snap zone with it.
Focus: Snap Focus 2.5m, shooting across the runner rather than at them
Drive: Continuous, one burst held through the sweep. The screen stutters mid-burst; trust the rotation, not the screen.
Stabilizer: Shake Reduction off, Horizon Correction off. The GR has no panning detection, so SR drags against the sweep and blurs the subject you are tracking. Both stay on in every other recipe.
Aperture: f/16 in full sun, f/11 bright overcast, f/8 in shade or evening. This body has no ND, so aperture absorbs the light. Diffraction at f/16 does not read in a panned frame.

Pick the runner up early, turn from the hips, and keep turning after the shutter fires. Stopping the sweep on the press is what kills the shot.
Expect one usable frame in ten. That is the normal hit rate, not a technique problem.
A busy background is what makes the blur read. Trees and crowds turn to streaks, which is the point.

Park these on the U dial

U1 group run — Av f/5.6, min shutter 1/500, snap 2.5m, Multi, +0.5 EV, WB daylight

U2 head-on — Av f/5.6, min shutter 1/1000, snap 3.5m

U3 pan — M 1/60, ISO 100, f/16 sun or f/8 shade, continuous drive, snap 2.5m, HDF off, SR off

U modes remember almost everything, including custom button assignments, so set the camera up fully before you save one. Anything you change while in a U mode reverts when you leave it.