Ricoh GR II Performance

Very good performance overall, with some noteworthy improvements over its predecessor.

Startup time was much slower than most DSLRs, but not bad for a compact camera and improved over the GR's 1.9 seconds. Switching from Play to Record was quite fast, and about the same as the GR.

The Ricoh GR II's autofocus and shutter lag times were pretty fast, and similar to the GR's. Full autofocus shutter lag was about 0.29 second in Spot AF mode (center). With the flash enabled, the Ricoh GR II's full AF shutter lag increased to about 0.45s to account for the preflash metering.

When manually focused, the Ricoh GR II's shutter lag dropped to only 0.086 second which is quite fast, and when prefocused, shutter lag was a very quick 0.026 second.

Single-shot cycle times were quite fast for a compact camera, and much improved over the GR. When shooting just JPEGs, it was so fast that we couldn't accurately measure it as it depends on the dexterity and rhythm of the user. When shooting RAW+JPEG files, cycle time was 0.45 second which is still very fast. The GR took about 0.9 and 2.0 seconds respectively. We no longer test just RAW file cycle time in single-shot mode, as it's usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.

In Continuous mode, the GR II captured large JPEGs at 4.0 frames per second, exactly matching Ricoh's spec. That's the same speed as the GR and below average these days, though there doesn't appear to be a buffer limit, at least with a fast card. The GR II could capture RAW or RAW+L JPEG frames at about 6.1 frames per second, and the buffer depth has been increased to 10 frames, a welcome improvement over the GR's meager 4 frame buffer.

Buffer clearing was fast when shooting JPEGs at only about one second. The GR II did however take much longer with RAW files, at up to 12 seconds after a max-length burst of RAW+JPEG frames versus 4 seconds for the GR, but that's no surprise with the deeper buffer. The GR II won't let you take another shot or change any settings while the buffer is clearing, though.

The built-in flash took only 1.4 seconds on average to recycle after a full discharge, which is very fast.

Bottom line, the Ricoh GR Mark II's performance is generally very good with some nice improvements over its predecessor. Startup is still a bit sluggish compared to DSLRs but improved over the GR, single-shot cycle times are much improved, and autofocus and shutter lag remain fast. Burst speed with just JPEGs remains mediocre at 4 frames per second, though there doesn't appear to be a buffer limit. With RAW files, bursts still speed up to about 6.1 fps, but with an improved buffer depth of 10 shots. Buffer clearing is very fast with just JPEGs, but a little slow with RAW files.

Battery Life
Good battery life for its class, and improved over its predecessor.

The Ricoh GR II uses a custom rechargeable DB-65 lithium-ion battery pack for power, which is charged in-camera via USB. (A dedicated BJ-6 battery charger is available for additional cost.) This is the same battery pack as the GR, but battery life has been improved from 290 to 320 shots per charge using the CIPA standard. Although battery life is pretty good for its class, we still recommend getting a second battery for your GR II if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))