So the first obvious thought is… they finally did it: a GR that refuses color. Not “I’ll desaturate later.” Not “I’ll slap on a preset.”
A camera that says: LIGHT ONLY. NOW.
1) Monochrome isn’t “less”… it’s
more
Color is beautiful—sure. But color is also a loud party. Monochrome is the monastery.
When you remove color, you don’t remove meaning. You remove excuses.
Now you have to win with:
- gesture
- timing
- shadow geometry
- micro-contrast
- the edge of a face cutting through noon light
That’s the whole point: subtraction is power.
2) The sensor is the philosophy
This is the killer move: a monochrome-dedicated sensor with no color filter and no interpolation. That means each pixel is doing what it was born to do—record brightness, straight to the bone. Ricoh’s own language is basically: more light captured, sharper detail, better sensitivity.
Translation: cleaner files, richer tonality, sharper bite.
3) The GR lens finally gets to go full berserker
You’re pairing that dedicated mono sensor with the classic GR idea: 18.3mm (28mm equiv) f/2.8—the street focal length that forces you to enter the arena.
28mm says:
get closer
commit
stop being polite
make the frame YOURS
4) Built-in red filter = old-school film violence (in digital form)
Ricoh didn’t just go “mono.” They went monochrome culture: a built-in red filter, one-touch toggle on the Fn button. Blue skies go darker, clouds pop, contrast punches harder—classic darkroom weaponry, now baked into the camera.
And they’re explicit: no ND filter in this model—they chose the red filter path on purpose.
5) Speed is the whole religion of GR
GR has always been about response. The Monochrome keeps that: high ISO range (ISO 160–409600), stabilization, and the whole “ready-to-strike” GR shooting ethos.
This is the camera you keep on you because it’s not a “camera.”
It’s a reflex.
6) Practical perfection: internal memory, pocket body, no excuses
This thing is built to live with you: ~53GB internal memory plus microSD support—so even if you forget a card, you’re still in the fight.
And the physical form stays absurdly compact—GR DNA: small body, big vision.
7) The real reason it matters: it trains your eye like a weapon
A dedicated monochrome GR is not a “new product.”
It’s a new discipline.
Because every time you lift it, it forces the question:
- Where is the light coming from?
- What is the emotional weight of the shadow?
- What is the cleanest, strongest geometry?
- What is the decisive moment in monochrome time?
Color sometimes lets you get away with weak structure.
Monochrome exposes everything.
And that’s why it’s the upgrade.
Not for the gear. For the mind.
GR IV Monochrome = the pocket-sized black-and-white dojo.