GRLife Pro 2.x guide

What is new in 2.x

For the GR III (2.10 / 2.20 / 2.21) and GR IIIx (1.60 / 1.70 / 1.71); the GR IV (1.20 / 1.21) is in Beta and some features differ. Still on v1.4x firmware? That’s fine: the old firmware page and the v1.4x steps in the other guides are still there.

Get the firmware

All of these steps happen on the GRLife Pro 2.x custom firmware page. Files are processed only in your browser and never uploaded.

1. Choose a model

   Choose GR III or GR IIIx. The firmware version is detected when you import the official BIN.

2. Contents and recipes

   The page lists every feature built into 2.x; there is nothing to tick. Recipes are an optional step: set them up here if you want your own recipes in Image Control, or skip it.

3. Import factory firmware

   Import the official BIN downloaded from Ricoh’s website; its version is checked on this device. Keep a copy of the official BIN so you can flash back later.

4. Build and download

   After reading and accepting the disclaimer and terms of use, build and download the ZIP on this device.

Install

1. Reset the camera first

   On the camera, press MENU and run Reset to return the settings to factory values. Settings you changed are cleared, so note them down first if you need them.

2. Flash the firmware

   Copy the BIN file from the SD folder to the root of the SD card, without renaming it or putting it in a folder. Insert a fully charged battery, hold MENU while turning the camera on, and confirm when asked. Do not turn the camera off or remove the battery or card until the update finishes.

3. Copy the GRLIFE folder

   • No GRLIFE folder on the card yet: copy the whole GRLIFE folder from the SD folder to the root of the SD card.
   • The card already has a GRLIFE folder: copy only GRLPRO.GRP into it. Do not replace the whole folder; the camera keeps other files in it.

4. Keep your own film library

   If the card already has a FILMS.GRF (films you bought, or your own LUT films), do not replace it with the FILMS.GRF from the ZIP: that one holds only the five built-in films.

Preparation before flashing and how to flash back the official firmware are in the custom firmware guide.

First use

Turn the camera on with the card in and press OK on the shooting screen: the first-use guide appears. Until you accept the disclaimer, GRLife Pro does nothing and the camera works as stock.

1. Welcome

   The first page welcomes you; press OK for Next. If you press MENU for “Not now”, the guide appears again the next time you turn the camera on.

2. Two ways to open it

   Press OK on the shooting screen, or choose GRLife Pro › Open GRLife Pro in the camera MENU. You can also turn the OK entry off there.

3. Disclaimer

   Scroll with ▲▼ to the end before you can agree. Then press OK for “Agree and turn on”.

4. Works without the card

   Once you agree, the camera keeps its own copy of the app and the film library. Removing or swapping the card afterwards does not matter.

Buttons

The bottom line of the screen always shows the buttons you can use on the current page.

The five pages

• 

  Film

  Film canisters on a shelf: ◀▶ picks a film, ▲▼ changes the shelf, OK loads it and returns to shooting, Fn goes back to the camera’s own recipe. The top right corner shows the film in use.

  Films sit on 13 shelves by brand: Kodak Color, Kodak Cine, Kodak Slide & B&W, Fujifilm, CineStill, Ilford, Agfa, Polaroid, Hasselblad, Pentax, Leica, Ricoh and Creative. Names are the makers’ full names, such as Kodak Portra 400 or CineStill 800T City.

• 

  Texture

  Film grain (X half style, with level and size), HDF diffusion, film softness, CineStill halation and light leak (Glow or First roll). The preview on the right is a sketch, not the camera’s actual processing.

  Grain, diffusion, softness and halation are kept per film; grain size and light leak are shared by all films. CineStill halation works only on CineStill films.

• 

  Imprint

  Stamps the date in a corner of the photo, like an old film camera. Choose the date format, add a caption (12 presets, or your own typed on the camera’s keyboard), print the film name too, and pick the font, colour, glow, corner and size.

• 

  Features

  A switch for each feature: more aspect ratios, half frame, golden ratio guides, slider level, ADJ nine settings, rear dial ISO, live photos, HDR photos and shutdown screen.

  All start switched off. Only when you turn one on do its options appear in the camera’s own menus; each item says where, for example more aspect ratios appear in Image Capture Settings › Aspect Ratio.

• 

  About

  The “GRLife Pro shortcut” and “Hide locked films” switches, plus the firmware version, camera, film library file, body code and “Clear GRLife data”.

  With “GRLife Pro shortcut” off, OK on the shooting screen no longer opens the app; open it from the camera MENU instead.

Upgrading from v1.4x

• In 2.x every feature starts switched off. Things you used before, such as 16:9 and other aspect ratios, half frame or HDR photos, are off after the upgrade; turn them on again on the Features page.
• Changing films, Info and the shutdown screen, which were under MENU › GRLife Pro in the old firmware, are now in the GRLife Pro app: change films on the Film page, find the body code on the About page and the shutdown screen on the Features page.
• A film library you already have is not affected and does not need to be bought again. Just keep your own FILMS.GRF on the card.

Locked films and the body code

• The Film page lists every film in the film library. Films this camera does not have yet are grey with a lock; press OK on one to see a card with the film’s parameters and this camera’s body code.
• Buy or redeem with the body code on the film library page, download this camera’s film library file, replace the old FILMS.GRF in the card’s GRLIFE folder with the new one, and turn the camera on once with the card in: the locks are gone.
• To hide locked films, turn on “Hide locked films” on the About page (off by default); the Film page then shows only the films you can use.

My films

Once films made from your own LUT or colour chart are saved to your GRLife account, download a new FILMS.GRF from the film library (with “My films” ticked), put it on the card and turn the camera on once: they appear on the Film page in the “My films” shelf.

Shutdown image

• On the Features page, select “Shutdown screen” and press OK to open it.
• The list shows the factory screen, the in-camera picture (the one saved in the camera) and BYE1–BYE9.JPG from the card’s GRLIFE/BYE folder; the selected picture is previewed on the right.
• Press OK on a picture to use it; it is copied into the camera and works without the card. Choose “Factory screen” to go back to the camera’s own screen.
• Make shutdown pictures with the shutdown screen tool; the steps are in the shutdown screen guide.

Updating the app

When a new version of GRLife Pro comes out, copy the new GRLPRO.GRP into the card’s GRLIFE folder over the old one and turn the camera on with the card in: the camera replaces its own copy by itself. Usually no new firmware flash is needed; the release notes say so when one is.

Clear GRLife data

• Select “Clear GRLife data” at the bottom of the About page. After you confirm, it deletes what GRLife keeps in the camera’s memory: the app copy and its settings (including your acceptance of the disclaimer), the film library copy and the films in use, and the texture, imprint, HDR and shutdown screen settings.
• The camera’s own settings, your photos and the files on the SD card are not affected.
• Turn the camera off and on afterwards. With a card holding GRLPRO.GRP inserted, pressing OK brings up the first-use guide again.

Curious how this works?

The article explains where the files are made, why nothing needs to be uploaded, and the risks and limits of each path.