ben_kallies Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 What about a Canon Elan 7? I never thought twice about a noisey shutter until I bought my Elan. Ever since, I go around showing everyone how quiet it is. I know that I read in a Canon ad that it was designed to be quiet. Just my 2 cents. Good luck in your search Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fritz_carlsson1 Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 How about a Pentax ME/MESuper with the Pentax-M 40mm/2.8 pancake lens? Another real compact beauty was the Konica FS-1 with the Konica Hexanon 40mm/1.8 pancake lens, but it had shutter priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Forget SLR, get a Hexar AF w/silent mode enabled. It's AE, you can manual pre-focus, read SS on top LCD, and snap away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert lee Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 "... or Olympus 35 RC, an even better and quieter camera than the Canonets." Right. Don't worry about batteries for the meter either. 400ISO negative film, 1/250sec, f8, and you're there - at least often enough as to not matter. The 135 format, fixed lens RF's from the 60's and 70's really are worth checking out though. The 35RC is a good representative example; I got mine for about $20. Olympus had up-market versions with f1.7 optics. Alternatively, go the other direction. Get something that gets the right kind of attention. Check out old MF press cameras. I've carried around a Koni-Omega Rapid on occasion. This is a 6x7 rangefinder that's a solid chunk of steel, glass and bakelite, and probably weighs about as much as a bowling ball. Simply racking that film advance is a good conversation starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpictures Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 i have a canon t70. i love that camera. i don't know if it's as quiet as you'd want, but i believe everything else fits. it takes fd lenses. there are some great ones out there and they are super cheap. try it out and see if the noise level exceeds what you expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 The T70 was a great camera - I used a pair of 'em for years - but they're not particularly quiet due to the built-in auto winders. Mirror slap and shutter noise aren't bad, tho', partly because the dense plastic/metal hybrid bodies helped dampen noise and vibration. The main problem was the lack of replacement parts for the winders, which were often the first part to wear out, tho' they seemed to last 15-20 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wj_lee Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Fm3a if you can afford it. Beautiful equipment, otherwise FE2 or FA for half the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin_terrey Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Here is an article from Robert Monaghan's MF website on camera sound levels. From Modern Photography articles which predate F3. http://web.archive.org/web/20050404193301/medfmt.8k.com/mf/sounds.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin_terrey Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Correction. The db level in the chart is for the F2, but the F3 is mentioned in the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim_Tardio Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Without question an FM3a is the camera you're looking for...preferably with the 45/2.8 P. Any of the older FG or FA bodies are just that...older...and have nothing to offer over Nikon's last & best manual body in this line. You'll love the FM3a. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I've read that report before on Monaghan's site. Sound level meter readings are misleading. They don't reveal anything about the characteristics of the sound. That report both cites electric typewriters at 66-72 dB (at 3 ft) while also citing a measured 70 dB for the Yashica Mat 124G TLR. Almost everyone has heard electric typewriters. Anyone who has handled the 124G, or any TLR, knows these cameras are nowhere near as loud as a typewriter in terms of perceived noise. When I worked for OSHA it was generally recognized that sound level meters were next to useless for measuring the types of noises typically encountered in most work places. A special type of device is needed to measure impulse noises and this still doesn't accurately correspond with human perception of noise. I've owned, simultaneously, and compared the Canon FTBn, OM-1, OM-2N, F3HP and FM2N. The F3HP was easily the least distracting, least unpleasant sounding camera. It was also the easiest to muffle completely with the motor drive using homebrewed blimp boxes. Of those cameras, in terms of least distracting to most distracting noise characteristics, I'd rank the F3 as the best, followed by the OM-1, OM-2N and FTBn, and the FM2N last mostly because of the tinny metallic sound of the shutter. The F3 has a very solid thunk that is not at all unpleasant, even compared with the OMs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stwrtertbsratbs5 Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 My favorite camera for street photography is a 4x5 Crown Graphic. Not exactly stealthy, but it does get people interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vorlandphotography Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I vote for the FM2n, the poor man's Leica. You can work around the wonderful sound of its shutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel_hardy_vallee1 Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Zeiss Ikon, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_lubow Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Canon Pellix FD (or 1NRS EOS) or Yashica Electro 35 (or similar leaf-shutter AE camera). Anything with an FP shutter is not going to be super quiet...except perhaps a Nikonos, which is super quiet, but zone focus only. More important than how much sound your camera makes will be how discreet of a shooter you are. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_gardner1 Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Hmmm . . . if this question was posted to a general forum rather than the Nikon forum I'd suggest the classic -- Leica/Barnack: http://cameraquest.com/ltmcam.htm Not an SLR but it worked pretty well for HC-B! Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trex1 Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Definitely another vote for the Olympus OM cameras, such as an OM1 or OM2. They have wonderful big finders quiet shutters, and the shutter dial is where it should be on all cameras, around the neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawngibson Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 Contax S2 or Oly OM - both are decently small and have a ton of lenses. There's no such thing as a quiet SLR though (mirror), relatively speaking...not that you need to worry, though, because at the quiet end no one outside a baptism will hear you anyways considering the number of people who walk into most things these days with their autoflashes and huge DSLRs set to green mode...you'll be inconspicuous and quiet with an S2 or OM for sure! Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic_. Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 A Voigtlander R4A has aperture priority, and you can see the speeds in the viewfinder. For indoor shooting, you will need wide angle lenses, 21mm or 25mm. Voigtlander produces some fine lenses that are very compact. http://www.cameraquest.com/voigt4m4aintro.htm http://www.cameraquest.com/voigtlen.htm Nikon FM3a is excellent too, so it's really a matter of your preference and budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepyjack Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 This is a very old thread now but the question came up in my head and here I am. I’ve used many of the cameras mentioned in this thread but I don’t know if any can beat the Retina Reflex series in terms of SLR shutter noise. Maybe it’s more a matter of higher pitch than brute volume, but it seems very quiet to me, almost like a cross between an SLR and a rangefinder. Its heft may help with sound as well as minimizing mirror rebound, but obviously the larger size (and also the clunky advance) is not ideal for discreet street shooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodeo_joe1 Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 ....but I don’t know if any can beat the Retina Reflex series in terms of SLR shutter noise. Almost any compact digital camera will beat it, provided you turn off all the warning beeps and artificial shutter sound. Little digital compacts, along with some interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras, make an almost imperceptible gentle 'click' when released. That, together with the LCD that's easily viewed at a distance, makes them the almost perfect candid or discreet picture-making tool. And with superior ISO performance to any film yet made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_halliwell Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 My better half works a lot in document archives where photography is allowed, but noise is not. She uses my (now her's!) Nikon J5, with the foldy screen to compose looking horizontally but 'shoot straight down. The kit 10-30mm (28-80mm EQ) has very effective VR. ... and is silent on electronic shutter. If you need really compact the 10mm 2.8 is a pancake, but sadly no VR. The 'look' of film can be replicated digitally, but in my personal opinion, is totally pointless.... unless a client requests it, and they haven't yet! Equally, I never understood discreet, always feels sneaky and underhand. Sure, there's overt display to would-be muggers, but.....! Covert surveillance these days is a tiny camera built into glasses frames.... i know I've seen the movie...:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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