Does a quiet shutter release exist ?

mikeyw

mikeyw

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,436
Edit My Images
Yes
I've been booked to shoot a musician playing some chamber music and noise from the photographer will certainly be frowned upon !

My D7200 has a 'quiet' mode but in reality it isn't that quiet !

Do any Nikon DSLR's actually operate quietly or is the only option a mirrorless camera ?

tia,
Mike.
 
mikeyw said:
… or is the only option a mirrorless camera
Click to expand...


The D810 is quieter than the D800x or the D850 —and I love that very much.
A mirrorless (since the mirror it is the guilt one) can only be the next best thing.
 
Can you shoot the rehearsal?
Some cameras will let you shoot stills while shooting video, thats often silent, don't know if yours has that though. Otherwise will video stills do the job?
 
One thing to consider before spending any money is there's a difference between a quiet shutter and shooting with an electronic shutter as the latter can give you banding under some artificial flickering lighting and if you get it it can be shot ruining, or at least I've never been able to rescue a shot with banding in it but other people with much better skills may do better.
 
On my X-T2, you can switch to the electronic shutter and it's completely silent. It takes some getting used to!!
 
woof woof said:
One thing to consider before spending any money is there's a difference between a quiet shutter and shooting with an electronic shutter as the latter can give you banding under some artificial flickering lighting and if you get it it can be shot ruining, or at least I've never been able to rescue a shot with banding in it but other people with much better skills may do better.
Click to expand...

This plus rolling shutter
 
woof woof said:
…shooting with an electronic shutter can give you banding under some artificial flickering lighting and if you get it it can be shot ruining
Click to expand...


:agree:
 
Most mirrorless cameras have much quieter mech shutters than Dslrs, and you have the option of completely silent with electronic shutter as mentioned. If you can beg, borrow or steal a Sony/Panasonic/Fuji/Olympus from somewhere for the night, it's simply a matter of trying out the ES under the lighting - if there's issues, the mech shutter should still be quiet enough. The Mechanical shutter on my G80 has a very 'soft' sound, I doubt anyone would notice it even during the quietest moments in a bar.
 
You can get sound muffling coats for noisy DSLRs. You might even be able to invent one.
 
chris malcolm said:
sound muffling coats for noisy DSLRs
Click to expand...


I have tried many… even very expensive ones that I could
justify in business terms. But I never was convinced that
they do much for the money but give one sweaty hands!
 
The thing to remember is that you are mms from the camera and the actual sound is much quieter than you think, ask someone else to shoot your camera at a reasonable distance and see how loud it Actually is. hth Mike.
 
mikeyw said:
I've been booked to shoot a musician playing some chamber music and noise from the photographer will certainly be frowned upon !

My D7200 has a 'quiet' mode but in reality it isn't that quiet !

Do any Nikon DSLR's actually operate quietly or is the only option a mirrorless camera ?

tia,
Mike.
Click to expand...

I would not worry, if they are in a chamber to play music, not many will be in the audience anyway the place will be too small :banana::banghead:
 
dinorock said:
The thing to remember is that you are mms from the camera and the actual sound is much quieter than you think, ask someone else to shoot your camera at a reasonable distance and see how loud it Actually is. hth Mike.
Click to expand...


I shot a Christening with the D800E once, and every time I took a shot everyone in the church stared at me :LOL: It was a very echoy church, quiet-ish ceremony and well, the D800 shutter slap was more of a shutter bang!
 
Rent a mirrorless camera and use the electronic shutter? You may get banding on some shots as mentioned though. In my experience you can't predict when it will happen but it's not that often.

Renting would also give you a chance to find out if you like mirrorless cameras.
 
dinorock said:
The thing to remember is that you are mms from the camera and the actual sound is much quieter than you think, ask someone else to shoot your camera at a reasonable distance and see how loud it Actually is. hth Mike.
Click to expand...


Ronnie O'Sullivan at last year's Masters semi-finals would more than slightly disagree with you.



(and no, it wasn't me)
 
To be fair a 1D2 on full tilt isn't silent either. 5D3 has quiet mode and to my ears is quiet. Live view?
 
Both my 1dx on silent mode are pretty noisy - my 5d mk3 on the other hand is very quiet, I use it when I'm photographing corporate talks/presentations and nobody has ever looked my way due to noise - didn't even think of using it when shooting pro golf close up though - caddies have incredible hearing
 
Time your shots with the music, that's what I do when the audience can be a bit "precious". Even chamber music has loud bits.
One word of advice. whichever lenses you plan to use, take the caps off first. I once dropped a lens cap onto a stone cathedral floor during a quiet bit... may as well have been a dustbin lid for the noise it made!
 
Graham W said:
Time your shots with the music, that's what I do when the audience can be a bit "precious". Even chamber music has loud bits.
One word of advice. whichever lenses you plan to use, take the caps off first. I once dropped a lens cap onto a stone cathedral floor during a quiet bit... may as well have been a dustbin lid for the noise it made!
Click to expand...
:giggle::LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
MatBin said:
To be fair a 1D2 on full tilt isn't silent either. 5D3 has quiet mode and to my ears is quiet. Live view?
Click to expand...

5d3 silent mode is pretty much inaudible a short distance away. Not even any need for live view... Yet I hear 1Dx doesn't posses the same qualities. Very strange.
 
Jelster said:
On my X-T2, you can switch to the electronic shutter and it's completely silent. It takes some getting used to!!
Click to expand...

I just posted in the X thread about this. The XT2 shutter is silent but the bloody shutter button is awfully clicky if you need virtually silent shooting, as I do.
 
decigallen said:
I just posted in the X thread about this. The XT2 shutter is silent but the bloody shutter button is awfully clicky if you need virtually silent shooting, as I do.
Click to expand...

:eek: Mines not, it's perfectly silent. Quite strange actually...
 
Jelster said:
:eek: Mines not, it's perfectly silent. Quite strange actually...
Click to expand...

That's weird. We have 2 XT2 bodies, both have shutters that make clicking sounds - comparable to the volume of a key on a computer keyboard. I've tried 4 other Fuji bodies in shops and all are the same. Not an issue for weddings or chamber orchestras but for movie stills it rules it right out for me.
 
decigallen said:
That's weird. We have 2 XT2 bodies, both have shutters that make clicking sounds - comparable to the volume of a key on a computer keyboard. I've tried 4 other Fuji bodies in shops and all are the same. Not an issue for weddings or chamber orchestras but for movie stills it rules it right out for me.
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is helpful, but I just did a quick video of the electronic shutter firing, and you can't here a thing.

View: https://youtu.be/-Qdk10augpQ


Strange, because my other T2 is exactly the same. Just put on ES, and make sure it's set to silent in the menus.
 

Youtubed it and this was the first vid that came up. Listen to the click as he presses the shutter button at 2m33 and you'll hear what I'm talking about.

That's too loud for a movie set when you're in close quarters with a boom operator.With a physically different button (like the ones DSLRs use) it would be perfectly silent.

Going to check out the A7 III when it hits shops. On paper it is pretty much what I'm after.
 
Last edited:
At the risk of repeating myself... a quiet shutter and an electronic shutter are different things as...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top