The effect of humidity on the holographic grating diffraction efficiency and transmittance kinetics in the E204Q BR gelatin film is investigated. We found a correlation between the accumulation of the red-light absorbing O intermediate in the later part of the E204Q BR photocycle and sharpness (decay to the steady-state) of the holographic recording kinetics. As shown, at humidity exceeding 95% the ratio between the peak and steady-state of the diffraction efficiency for the weak probe beam (670nm) can reach 8.7 in the E204Q BR film, which is sufficient for realization of an efficient novelty filter.