Ricoh’s Nostalgia-Fueled GR IV HDF Arrives Soon and Adds a New Electronic Shutter

As promised, the Ricoh GR IV HDF is coming very soon. Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation announced today that the GR IV HDF will be showcased at the company’s GR Space retail locations starting tomorrow, December 17, and will begin shipping to customers next month.

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The Ricoh GR IV HDF inherits the core features and functionality of Ricoh’s excellent new GR IV premium compact camera, including its new 25.7-megapixel APS-C image sensor, better 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens, and improved user experience. However, what sets the GR IV HDF apart is its included Highlight Diffusion Filter. This built-in filter, which can be enabled via a button on the back of the GR IV HDF, promises to give photos a “mellow, diffused expression.” Ricoh adds that the diffusion effect is stronger on highlights in images, like light sources.

The HDF, introduced in the GR III series in the GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF cameras in March 2024, was developed based on inkjet technology Ricoh cultivated over many years. The special-effect filter not only diffuses highlight areas but gives the edges of an image a blurrier appearance, which the company says is reminiscent of nostalgic images captured by film cameras or shown in movies.

As Ricoh explained when it introduced the GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF cameras, the HDF filter, which is very thin and has structures printed directly on its surface, is located near the lens’s aperture. By making the filter very thin and light, Ricoh was able to utilize a very small drive motor to control the filter’s position, ensuring that it did not need to redesign the camera or lens. The filter has picoliter-sized ink droplets that precisely control how light travels through the lens to strike the image sensor. Significantly more information about Ricoh’s inkjet technology and the HDF is available on Ricoh’s website.

When photographers want their images to be as sharp as possible, they can turn off the HDF effect, which moves the internal filter out of the way of the image sensor. The HDF replaces the standard GR IV’s built-in neutral density (ND) filter. Otherwise, the cameras are identical in terms of functionality and features.

However, that is not to say that the GR IV HDF is exactly the same as the standard GR IV beyond swapping in a highlight diffusion filter for the ND filter. The GR IV HDF also has a slightly different appearance than its sibling, sporting a new grayish silver shutter release button, which Ricoh says symbolizes the camera’s “ability to instantly shift the image’s visual expression.” The camera’s Fn (function) button is also set to control the HDF by default, whereas the standard GR IV model’s customizable Fn button triggers AF + AE Lock out of the box.

The Ricoh GR IV HDF also has a new high-speed electronic shutter to improve shooting in super-bright locations. The electronically controlled shutter mechanism now enables shutter speeds as fast as 1/16,000s, up from the mechanical shutter on the GR IV, which was limited to 1/4000s. This is an important tweak, as the GR IV HDF’s lack of a built-in ND filter would otherwise limit its ability to shoot at fast apertures like f/2.8 in bright sunlight. This will not remain unique to the GR IV HDF for long, though, as the standard GR IV will receive this new feature via a firmware update scheduled for release after the GR IV HDF’s launch.

Pricing and Availability

The Ricoh GR IV HDF will launch in late January for $1,599.95, a $100 premium over the standard GR IV model, which is available now. As for the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome initially unveiled in October, it remains slated for release in spring 2026 for an undisclosed price.

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Image credits: Ricoh