Ricoh Is Making Its First GR Camera Built for Black and White Photography

Oct 20, 2025

Jeremy Gray

A black compact digital camera with a textured grip, labeled "GR" on the front, featuring a prominent lens and control dials on top, photographed against a plain white background.

Ricoh Imaging has announced the development of the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome. This will be the first high-end GR compact digital camera series model explicitly designed for black and white photography.

The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, as its name suggests, is built on the existing GR IV platform, which launched with the standard model last month. The standard GR IV is selling very well and is sold out at many photo retailers. Ricoh Imaging also announced today that the promised GR IV HDF camera will arrive in “winter 2025.”

However, while the core features are the same between the GR IV and the upcoming GR IV Monochrome, there is one crucial difference: the image sensor. The GR IV Monochrome is equipped with a new, dedicated monochrome image sensor. It is still a 25.7-megapixel ASPC chip, which suggests that like most other monochrome cameras, the GR IV Monochrome will utilize the same basic sensor but ditch the Bayer pattern color filter array on top. Standard digital cameras only capture color data thanks to the primary color filter, as CMOS image sensors are monochromatic by nature.

A black compact digital camera with a textured grip on the left, a prominent lens in the center, and minimal buttons or markings on the front. — The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome looks a lot like the standard GR IV. However, it now features a blacked-out GR logo on the front.

Alongside the monochrome image sensor, Ricoh says the GR IV Monochrome will feature special Image Control options specialized for black and white photography “to deliver the expressiveness and depth unique to monochromatic images.”

The specifications, which are subject to change, list Standard, Soft, Hi-Contrast, Grainy, HDR Tone, and three custom Image Control settings. Photographers will be able to adjust each Image Control across many parameters, including high and low key, contrast, contrast (highlight), contrast (shadow), sharpness, shading, clarity, toning, grain effect, and HDR Tone Level.

From a design and features standpoint, the GR IV Monochrome promises many of the same improvements as the standard GR IV, including the improved 18.3mm f/2.8 (28mm equivalent) built-in prime lens, better Shake Reduction (SR) image stabilization system, revised design, and swifter autofocus. There is one notable design change, though, and that is that Ricoh has stripped all the color from the GR IV Monochrome’s body, including the green power indicator light on top, which is now white. The GR logo on the front is also now black, although it is typically just gray anyways. In product photos supplied by Ricoh, the camera’s actual finish also appears smoother.