Ricoh GR IV Monochrome: Is the B&W-Only GR Worth It?

Specs from Ricoh's GR IV Monochrome specification (dated January 15, 2026) and GR IV specification (updated December 17, 2025). US price from Ricoh Imaging Americas' launch release.

Our pick: the standard GR IV for most people, and the Monochrome only for photographers who already shoot black and white almost all the time. The GR IV gives you a convincing black-and-white file from a custom slot and still lets you shoot color. The Monochrome gives you a better black-and-white file and nothing else.

What the monochrome sensor actually changes

A normal camera sensor puts a red, green or blue filter over each pixel and then interpolates the missing colors. Ricoh's launch release says the GR IV Monochrome drops that color filter array and the interpolation step, so each pixel records brightness directly. The release also describes the sensor as having no anti-aliasing filter. Ricoh promises "sharp monochrome rendering with rich tonal gradation." Ricoh has not published a measured sharpness gain, and we have not seen a lab test that puts a number on it.

Two changes are measurable on the spec sheet:

• More sensitivity. The Monochrome runs from ISO 160 to 409600, while the GR IV runs from ISO 100 to 204800. Without color filters, more light reaches each pixel, so the top of the range is one stop higher. The base is about two-thirds of a stop higher, which matters on bright days without an ND filter.
• No color, ever. The 14-bit DNG RAW files contain luminance only. You cannot pull a color version out later, and you cannot change how a red shirt or a blue sky translates to gray in post the way you can with a color RAW file. Those decisions happen in front of the lens, with the red filter.

The red filter replaces the ND filter

Black-and-white film shooters have screwed red filters onto their lenses for a century. Ricoh built one into the lens unit and put it on a single control. The launch release explains that it lets only red wavelengths through: blue skies go darker, white clouds stand out, and red subjects turn brighter.

That convenience costs you the ND filter. According to heise, the red filter takes the slot that holds the 2-stop ND filter on the standard GR IV and the diffusion filter on the GR IV HDF. Ricoh's spec page shows why this matters. At f/2.8, the mechanical shutter tops out at 1/2500 sec. Combined with a base ISO of 160, wide-open shooting in bright sun can overexpose.

Situation	What to do on the Monochrome
Bright sun, want f/2.8	Switch to the electronic shutter, rated up to 1/16000 sec
Fast motion in bright sun	Stop down to f/5.6 or smaller, where the mechanical shutter reaches 1/4000 sec
Blue sky, white clouds	Red filter ON
Faces and skin	Red filter OFF: red light lightens skin and can flatten it
Night, mixed light	Red filter OFF: it costs light you need

The last two rows are our advice from how red filters behave on film, not tests on this camera.

Solid, Grainy and the other Image Controls

The Monochrome has six base Image Controls and three custom slots. Two are new to the GR line:

• Solid. Ricoh describes it as a hard tonal curve with a crisp, clean look and refined edges. heise sums it up as "hard contrasts and sharp edges."
• Grainy. A strong grain effect meant to look like a silver-halide print, while keeping some highlight and shadow detail instead of blowing them out. Ricoh says the grain stays visible even on a phone screen, and it pitches the high ISO range as a way to push that look further.

The other four are Standard, Soft, Hi-Contrast and HDR Tone. The adjustable parameters include high/low key, contrast, separate highlight and shadow contrast, sharpness, shading, clarity, toning and grain effect, depending on the mode. There is no saturation, hue, white balance or Filter Effect, because none of them mean anything without color.

Our pick for a starting point: Solid for daylight street work with the red filter off, and Grainy for night and rainy days. Save each to a custom slot. These are starting points from Ricoh's descriptions, not settings we have tested on the body.

Starting point	Daylight street	Night and grain
Image Control	Solid	Grainy
Red filter	OFF (ON for skyline and cloud frames)	OFF
Exposure mode	Av, f/5.6–f/8	Av, f/2.8
Auto ISO	160–6400, minimum shutter 1/250 sec	Upper limit 25600, minimum shutter 1/60 sec
Focus	Snap 2m with Full Press Snap	Snap 1.5m
Metering	Highlight-weighted	Multi-segment
Save to	Custom 1	Custom 2

Do our recipes work on the GR IV Monochrome?

No, and we would rather tell you that before you buy one. Our recipes are built for the GR III, GR IIIx and GR IV, which share the same classic Image Control set. Our black-and-white recipes rely on Hard Monotone and Hi-Contrast B&W plus white balance shifts that change how colors map to gray. The Monochrome has none of those modes and no white balance. Solid is the closest in intent to Hard Monotone, but it is a different mode, so a recipe will not carry over setting by setting.

This is also the best argument for the standard GR IV. On a color sensor, white balance works like a set of colored filters you can change between frames. Our Ilford HP5 B&W recipe builds a gritty, high-contrast look on Hard Monotone with strong grain. Dramatic Monochrome uses Hi-Contrast B&W and a 10000K white balance to push tones for bold contrast. Load one in a custom slot and you have most of the Monochrome's mood, plus a color camera on the mode dial. Our GR IV recipes guide shows how to set up all three custom slots.

Who should buy the GR IV Monochrome, and who shouldn't

Buy the GR IV Monochrome if:

• You already keep almost only black-and-white frames and switch your color camera to Monotone by default.
• You shoot at night a lot and want the extra stop at the top of the ISO range, or grain as a deliberate look.
• You like the discipline of a camera that cannot do color. The commitment is part of what you are buying.

Buy the standard GR IV if:

• You shoot color even one day in ten. Family, travel and food photos usually need it.
• You want the 2-stop ND filter for wide-open daylight shooting and slow-shutter blur.
• You want to use film recipes. The GR IV runs every GR III recipe and adds Cinema (Yellow) and Cinema (Green). See our best GR IV settings for the base setup.
• You want soft highlights on every frame. That is the GR IV HDF's job, as our HDF vs standard guide explains.

The rest of the camera is shared, according to Ricoh's spec: 53GB of internal memory plus a microSD slot, the DB-120 battery rated at about 250 shots, 5-axis sensor-shift stabilization, 35mm and 50mm crop modes, and Full HD video at up to 60p. None of that should sway the decision either way.

Mistakes we see all the time

• Buying the Monochrome as a second camera you plan to sell later. It is a single-purpose tool. If you are unsure, shoot a month in Monotone on a color GR first. If you never switch back to color, buy it.
• Leaving the red filter on all day. It darkens blue and lightens red everywhere, including skin and shadows under a blue sky. Turn it on for the frames that need it.
• Shooting wide open in full sun on the mechanical shutter. At f/2.8 the limit is 1/2500 sec and there is no ND filter. Use the electronic shutter or stop down.
• Buying color recipes for it. Negative Film, Positive Film and white balance do not exist on this body. Check which GR IV you own before you buy any recipe.

In short

The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome is a GR IV with a 25.74MP black-and-white-only sensor, ISO up to 409600, a built-in red filter in place of the ND filter, and two new Image Controls, Solid and Grainy. It launched at $2,199.95 in the US. Buy it if black and white is already almost all you shoot. Otherwise the standard GR IV with a black-and-white recipe is the better buy. For more on the black-and-white side, read our GR III black and white guide.

If you choose the standard GR IV, get the Ilford HP5 B&W recipe ($3.99) for gritty street frames, or the B&W Masters bundle ($6.99), which pairs it with Dramatic Monochrome.