Drop a DNG from your Ricoh GR IV Monochrome into the tool and the actuation count is read from the Ricoh MakerNote in your browser. Dropping the colour filter array changed the sensor, not the metadata — the counter sits in the same place it does on a colour GR IV.
Check Shutter Count →Ricoh announced the GR IV Monochrome on 14 January 2026 and put it on sale on 13 February 2026 at $2,199.95 — roughly $700 above the colour GR IV, after a development announcement the previous October. It is the GR IV platform with the colour filter array taken off the sensor: every photosite records luminance directly instead of sitting behind a red, green or blue filter and being interpolated back into a grey value.
| Specification | Ricoh GR IV Monochrome |
|---|---|
| Sensor | 25.74 MP APS-C CMOS (23.3 × 15.5 mm), monochrome-dedicated — no colour filter array, no AA filter |
| Processor | GR ENGINE 7 |
| Lens | GR LENS 18.3mm f/2.8 (28 mm equivalent), 7 elements in 5 groups, 3 aspherical |
| Shutter | Leaf shutter in the lens — 30 s to 1/4000 s mechanical (aperture-dependent), to 1/16000 s electronic |
| Rated shutter life | Not published by Ricoh — see the estimate note below |
| Stabilisation | 5-axis sensor-shift |
| Sensitivity | ISO 160 – 409,600 |
| File formats | DNG 14-bit RAW · JPEG (Exif 2.3) |
| In-file counter | Ricoh MakerNote tag 0x005D, read from the DNG |
| Storage | 53 GB internal memory (approx. 937 RAW / 2,900 large JPEG) · microSD slot |
| Monochrome-only features | Switchable red filter in the lens unit; Solid and Grainy monochrome Image Controls |
The built-in red filter is the part with no equivalent on a colour GR: assigned to a function button, it darkens blue sky for cloud separation and lifts red subjects, the job a screw-on red filter does on a film camera. It sits in the lens unit, so it is optical, not a processing preset.
The GR series has stored its release counter in a Pentax-style MakerNote since the GR III. The value lives in tag 0x005D, four bytes, always big-endian, XOR-obfuscated against the Date (0x0006) and Time (0x0007) tags — the algorithm documented in ExifTool's Pentax.pm and exiv2. In a Ricoh DNG that MakerNote is not in the usual EXIF tag 0x927C; it is carried in IFD0 tag 0xC634 (DNGPrivateData) behind a RICOH\0 header, which is where the parser goes looking for it.
That path is selected on the Make field, not on the model name. A GR IV Monochrome DNG identifies itself as a Ricoh Imaging body and is decoded by exactly the same code as a GR IV, a GR IIIx or a Pentax K-3 III file. Removing the colour filter array changes what the raw pixel values mean — a RAW converter that does not know the model may demosaic the file as if it were Bayer and produce a mess — but it does not move, rename or re-encode a single metadata tag.
| Body | Container | Tag | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ricoh GR III, GR IIIx, GR IV | DNG / JPG | 0x005D | ✓ Listed in the support matrix |
| Ricoh GR IV Monochrome | DNG | 0x005D | ✓ Same path — no sample validated yet |
| Ricoh GR II and older | DNG | — | ✗ Different MakerNote, no counter |
On the desktop, the same value comes out of ExifTool: exiftool -ShutterCount file.DNG. Use a DNG rather than an in-camera JPEG — the DNG is the container this site's Ricoh path is documented against, and a JPEG that has been through an edit or a phone app has usually lost its MakerNote.
Ricoh has never published a shutter durability figure for a GR body, and the GR IV Monochrome is no exception. The ~200,000 (est.) figure attached to the GR series across this site is a community estimate for the GR III / GR IIIx / GR IV leaf shutter, not a Ricoh specification. Treat the table below as a way to read a number in context, not as a countdown to failure.
| Actuation count | Share of ~200,000 (est.) | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 10,000 | 0 – 5 % | Very low — near-new for a body this recent |
| 10,000 – 50,000 | 5 – 25 % | Low — normal for a deliberate street shooter |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | 25 – 50 % | Moderate — a genuinely worked camera |
| 100,000 + | 50 %+ | High — inspect the lens barrel and negotiate |
Two more things worth knowing about the number itself. The electronic shutter, up to 1/16000 s, does not actuate the mechanical blades, so frames taken that way should not add mechanical wear — this has not been separately verified on the Monochrome, so do not treat a suspiciously low count as proof of a suspiciously light life. And the tool's remaining-life bar falls back to a generic reference figure for bodies with no entry of their own; on this body that bar is not a Ricoh rating and can be ignored.
For the general procedure, the used camera buying guide covers the rest, and what is shutter count explains what the number does and does not tell you.
Shoot a RAW frame, copy the DNG off the card or the internal memory, and drop it into shuttercount.app. The count is read from the Ricoh MakerNote in your browser, with no upload and no account.
No. The missing colour filter array changes the pixel data, not the EXIF. The DNG container, the Ricoh MakerNote block and tag 0x005D are identical to the colour GR IV, and the parser selects its path on the manufacturer rather than the model name.
Ricoh publishes none for any GR body. The ~200,000 (est.) figure used across the GR pages here is a community estimate for the same leaf shutter, not a manufacturer number.
A leaf shutter inside the fixed 18.3mm f/2.8 lens — which is why the GR flash-syncs at any speed. Top mechanical speed depends on aperture, from 1/2000 s at f/2.8 to 1/4000 s at f/5.6; the electronic shutter reaches 1/16000 s.
Not yet — the path is the validated Ricoh path, but no GR IV Monochrome sample has been through the release corpus. That is why this page describes the count as expected rather than confirmed.
Yes. ShutterCount.app parses the file locally in your browser. No account, no upload, no file limit.
Model, launch date, price, sensor, lens, shutter speeds, stabilisation, ISO range, file formats, internal memory and the monochrome Image Controls: the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome product page and the Ricoh launch announcement, with the earlier development announcement. Pricing, availability and handling: DPReview's GR IV Monochrome review, PetaPixel and the B&H product listing. The aperture-dependent leaf-shutter speed limits and flash sync behaviour of the GR series: diglloyd's leaf-shutter measurements. Tag 0x005D, its Date/Time XOR obfuscation and the DNGPrivateData location in Ricoh DNGs: ExifTool Pentax.pm (CryptShutterCount) and exiv2, as documented in the format notes and support matrix on the ShutterCount home page. Ricoh publishes no shutter durability rating for the GR series; the ~200,000 figure is a community estimate carried by the other GR pages on this site.