We present first-principles studies of the optical absorbance of the group IV honeycomb crystals graphene, silicene, germanene, and tinene. We account for many-body effects on the optical properties by using the non-local hybrid functional HSE06. The optical absorption peaks are blueshifted due to quasiparticle corrections, while the influence on the low-frequency absorbance remains unchanged and reduces to a universal value related to the Sommerfeld fine structure constant. At the Dirac points spin-orbit interaction opens fundamental band gaps; parabolic bands with a very small effective mass emerge. Consequently, the low-frequency absorbance is modified with a spin-orbit-induced transparency region and an increase of the absorbance at the fundamental absorption edge.