Any Ricoh GR owners out there
I’ve been attracted to this camera, and now they are releasing a Monochrome version..what are the advantages to a dedicated Monochrome sensor?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Lens Construction ---7 elements in 5 groups (3 aspherical lens elements)
Focal Length, Aperture --- 18.3mm (Approx. 28mm in 35mm equivalent focal length), F2.8～F16
So, it's a wide-angle point and shoot camera. I like wide angle. 28 mm equivalent is good,
I like 14 and 20 a lot, but that's just me. 
https://petapixel.com/2025/10/20/ricoh-is-making-its-first-gr-camera-built-for-black-and-white-photography/
Petapixel is a great source of info (independent)
If it's just monochrome that matters, here's the "parallel" Leica model (mono only)
https://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/m10-monochrom.htm
Ken has little new for Ricoh GR IV
Ricoh specs
https://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info2/2025/20251021_041389.html
Early Announcement
https://www.dailycameranews.com/2025/10/ricoh-gr-iv-hdf-and-gr-iv-monochrome/
If it's just a matter of B/W versus color
https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bayer.htm
Note that all sensors are inherently black and white and create color images through the process detailed above
Modern cameras do not measure or sense the red AND green AND blue values for each pixel location. Instead, they use a black-and-white sensor covered with a pattern of red and green and blue filters, most commonly arranged in a Bayer pattern. Each location senses the brightness of just one color, not all three.
The sensor now gives a red OR green OR blue value for each pixel location, and the system image processor has to guess at the value for each of the other two colors not sensed directly at each location. To do this the system mathematically interpolates (guesses) at the other colors’ values for each point for two of the three colors not directly sensed at each pixel.
In other words, everything is blurred a pixel or two in each direction so we can estimate and store a red and green and blue value for each pixel location because our sensor can only measure one color, red or green or blue (but not all three), at each location.
This blurring is called Bayer interpolation and done in every conventional camera. It’s in addition to anti-alias filters, which are a completely different discussion.
Commenting on the Leica, Ken says:
Digital camera sensors are all actually only black-and-white. The only way we get color from digital cameras is because we put a colored-filter-dot array over the base monochrome sensor (most often an RGB "Bayer array", and then interpolate the results from our sensor to simulate the color images we all take for granted today.
Using a color filter array in front of a sensor is the way all color digital cameras work, however if you make a B&W image simply by desaturating the color image, you've lost half your resolution, and over one-third of your light sensitivity compared to what you'd get by removing the color filter array and just shooting the base B&W sensor naked.
The color filter array loses most of the light that tries to come through it passing only one color out of three for each pixel, and loses resolution as any given color only can hit a fraction of the available pixels.
The reason I suggested this monochrome-only version to LEICA over 10 years ago is because when you take away the color filter array, you get over three times the light sensitivity (ISO speed) and twice the effective resolution over converting a color image back to B&W!
Naively, a sensor without those color filters could give higher resolution than color.
I keep film cameras, but have not taken mono in a long time. Maybe on a Yosemite visit? I desaturated some digital Yosemite photos I took a while back and they look fine. (but no increase in resolution)
