D300s Silent Mode

<p>I am thinking of moving on to a Nikon D300s, the silent shutter mode appeals to me as I take document photographs in an archive library and the sound of my D200 shutter can be somewhat distracting to other library users. I would welcome any comments on how the silent shutter mode is engaged and will it cope with three day sessions of six to seven hours in continual use? Look forward to any comments, regards Mike D</p>

<p>I find the silent mode work well, but I am more familiar with it on the D3S than on the D300S. I don't see any reason why this feature will fail over extended use. However, concerning exactly how "silent" it is, you need to try it at a store to evaluate that for yourself.</p>

<p>If your application is indoors in a library, you may find the much better AF and extra high ISO capability from the D300/D300S useful compared to the D200. But the D300 does not have the silent mode; only the D300S has it.</p>

<p>I would go for a mirrorless system if it had to be quiet.</p>

<p>Another option is to use a special enclosure like a sound <a href="http://www.soundblimp.com/Default.htm">blimp</a></p>

 

<p>I would doubt if the silent mode would make such a great difference in your situation. This mode just lets you decide when the mirror should go down by putting your finger off of the release button, which means that you can make shutter actuation/mirror-up noise and the mirror-down noise separately. The choice is more like whether you make loud noise once or slightly quieter noise twice. :)</p>

<p>In that case, the "tripod" live view mode may work better for you. You can magnify the image on LCD for way more accurate focus, too.</p>

<p>FWIW, mirrorless system cameras (Sony, Panasonic or Olympus) are not all that quiet. If the image quality would be sufficient for your purpose, P&S cameras might be good candidates for you (I'm serious).</p>

<p>Same IMHO as above, My D300s' silent mode is "silent'er" but no were near library silent. For that matter, the shutter noise of my Panasonic GF1 would be too loud too. I would use something like a Panasonic LX3 for this. </p>

<p>I never use the quiet mode on my D300s because the difference isn't a big enough deal. A quiet click might even act like a whisper and attract greater attention! With a point-n-shoot you can turn off the shutter-release noise so it is in fact silent.</p>

<p>I wouldn't buy a D300s for the quiet mode alone; however it is a huge leap forward in every way from the D200 especially for low light and dynamic range .</p>

<p>Can I thank everyone for their contributions, as ever they are a very interesting mixture of options and I certainly now have a little more food for thought, my way forward is still not without problems, but I am considering the possibility of an upmarket compact camera, that will provide me with good quality jpegs, though it would be nice if I could use my Compact Flash cards instead of possibly having to purchase other formats of card storage media, again many thanks to everyone who contributed, it is all gratefully received. Mike</p>