Ricoh GR III Firmware 2.21

Ricoh GR III Firmware 2.21 is the software update released by Ricoh Imaging for the GR III on 10 November 2026. It downloads from Ricoh's official support page, which also states that the file is available only until 31 December 2026 at 23:59 Japan time.

Version 2.21 adds two options under Setup [11] Initialize: Reset Settings, which lets you pick the individual items to reset, and Reset to Factory Default, which returns the camera to its original factory condition. Ricoh warns that the factory reset erases and initialises the internal memory, so pictures stored there are lost, while images on the SD card stay intact.

When the camera is switched on again after the reset, the shutdown screen becomes the special GR 30th anniversary graphic. That change is permanent: once the update is applied, the previous GR III screen cannot be restored, nor the ones from the GR III Street Edition and Diary Edition. Version 2.21 also includes the improvements from 2.20 and earlier, and you cannot go back to an older firmware afterwards.

Because the factory reset wipes the configuration, it is worth writing down your own settings before updating and then checking language, date and time. On a street camera like the Ricoh GR III Firmware 2.21, the appeal of this release is choosing between a partial and a full reset without a computer, plus the anniversary detail. Anyone who wants to keep the original shutdown screen should skip this update.