bessa r shutter sound

[bluedust]

I am very new with range finders and my bessa r arrived today.

I love it and I think it is a great cam but I just wanted clarify if the bessa r has a loudish shutter. I was expecting just a click but its sounds a little louder than a click. Its not big deal for me I just wanted to to make sure.

BTW I actually like the sound of it but I just wanted to make sure everything is normal.

 

[jdos2]

Yup. It's the sound of very thin and stiff metal moving very quickly.

That's normal.

 

[rover]

yup, click is about right. 😉

Just go out and shoot, it is a really nice camera, enjoy.

 

[ZeissFan]

Here's an unscientific sampling of a number of cameras. All of the shutter speeds were at 1/250, except where indicated in the file name.

Shuttter sounds

These are just a random selection of the cameras that are on my shelf and not of every camera ever made. Most assuredly, there are some that are quieter and some that are louder.

Of all of the rangefinders, the Retina IIIS is the quietest (sorry, Leica users). But, of the focal plane shutters, the Leica is the quietest. I don't have a Hexar AF to test.

The Contax IIa/IIIa at 1/100 and slower also is a quiet camera. The black dial cameras are quieter than the color dial models.

The Copal metal-leaf shutter in the Bessas, however, is not quiet. Note how the Bessa-R and the Rollei 35 RF (Bessa-R2 clone) sound nearly identical.

Out on the street, the Bessa-R will be fine and won't attract as much attention as an SLR with a honking big lens hanging from the front. I wouldn't want to use this in a spot where silence is expected.

 

[Solinar]

If you have the camera case for the Bessa R, attach the bottom half of the case to the camer and it will muffle the shutter a bit. To my ears it softens the sharpness of the metallic clack.

 

[julianphotoart]

Thank you ZeissFan for those recordings. That is cool (at least to me). Having said that, hearing the Bessa at the same volume as the M6 it didn't fully show off the huge difference in volume in the real cameras. I've thought that the Bessa's very audible (though reassuring) click is MUCH louder than a focal-plane rangefinder. And hooray for the Retinas.

 

[DougK]

I've thought that the Bessa's very audible (though reassuring) click is MUCH louder than a focal-plane rangefinder.

I think you might mean "is much louder than a leaf-shutter or cloth focal-plane shutter" as the Bessa has a metal focal-plane shutter. I'm picking a nit, I know.

I can easily live with the shutter sound on this camera. I shot it at a wedding this weekend and I don't think anyone noticed the sound at all. The camera may sound loud in a quiet room but it will disappear, more or less, into the background noise of wherever you're shooting or from more than a couple of feet away. Shoot it and enjoy.

 

[Fred]

The Bessa is louder than the Leica, but the sound fits in with every day life. It's also a lot better value for the money given you can get a bunch of em for the cost of a used Leica. I've got a lot of time for them. The person behind the camera is the most important bit. 😀

Keep snapping BD

 

[Toby]

I think the whole shutter noise thing is a bit of a red herring. The biggest advantage of RF is the size of the camera. A modern AF SLR just looks so aggressive and has 'paparazzi' connotations, most people don't really know what an RF is so they don't think of you as some blood-sucking pro photographer, the noise is irrelevent. I have in my less sane moments shot street photography and documentary with a pentax 6x7 this is just about the loudest camera on the planet yet still more widely ignored than a much quieter Eos (see above). The point of street photography is not to be some kind of silent photo-ninja -more important is to get the co-operation of the people around you, tacit or otherwise. To an RF newbie my advice would be do not conceal what you are doing, smile frequently and trust in the good nature of your fellow man -silent or not people know that metal box pressed to your face is a camera.

 

[Chuck A]

It is also important to note that the shutters sound much louder to the photographer than to bystanders or subjects. I thought that a Oly 35SP had a loud shutter but when you stand 10 feet away the shutter sound of the SP is much lower. The RC is very low at that distance.

 

[lubitel]

Photo ninja. thats a good point.

 

[bluedust]

all of your points are well noted; thanks.

I love the sound of the shutter; dont know why but I just do.

 

[nwcanonman]

Compared to many (most?) SLR's, the Bessa R is almost silent. It is a little louder than the Canonet though.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

When I want almost complete silence I use a Leica Minilux. They are on eBay now, brand new, for under 200 quid.

 

[pvdhaar]

I think the Bessa makes about average noise for a focal plane shutter on a 35mm. It's of course louder than leaf shutter cameras, but nothing serious. What's most annoying to most bystanders are the other sounds that cameras make: the whining of autofocus and motorized film advance.
Even the slapping of SLR mirrors is less obnoxious than that.. (although some creds have to go the the Zenit-E, that made the tripod run off in fear 🙂