Bessa shotgun, or why is the Bessa so loud?

On the manual and the electronic Bessas, the shutter blades are the same: 2 sets of metal multi-blades, so no (or very small) diff. in sound.
 
I think the m and 4 series have different shutters (look like the ZI shutter,
white stripe on one blade), and are also a bit quieter than older cameras.
See the bartender's website.

Roland.
 
Thanks a lot FrankS and Roland. Well, I will get this Bessa R2 and give it longer try.

Oh, and thanks to Cosina and Mr. K. I think your product line is great* and brings some good competition in the RF market. Good to have you around...


*( do not have any lenses yet, but what other people say... )
 
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No sorry, it still waits on the first testrun (and me too). But it is clad and should take fine pictures. When I have some pics, I will start a thread here, OK. I think there are more of you interested in this one.. Now back to the topic.
 
my quietest camera is my Mamiya 7ii - you can't hear it ene in a quiet room. my loudest by far is my Bronica etr. street photography is definitely a noticeable game with the sound and size - but if you put in earphones people hardly pay attention. my bessas are far closer to the m7ii in terms of loudness.
 
My quietest camera is my Yashica 124G (leaf shutter, you can barely here it fire), my loudest is my Kiev 60 (if you think an R2 sounds like a gun then the 60 sounds like heavy artillery :D)

Matt
 
I'll repeat some of the observations already made: the Bessa-R is "loud", but it is not extremely loud. It is the loudest rangefinder I've ever owned/held.

The Bessa R2 is just slightly quieter. But, believe me, it does not catch people's attention as much as an SLR. Despite the "sound" issue, I've grown to like the Bessa-R. The R2 feels much more natural in my hand(s), but the R is just likeable. Noise or no noise. And for the price, you can't complain much.

That said, if you want a super-quiet rangefinder, the Bronica 645 is the quietest rangefinder I've ever held in my life. I should have bought the kit for $750 when I had the chance. :bang:
 
Shutter sound comparison

Shutter sound comparison

Ok, this thread has made me curious enough to record the shutter sounds of my cameras. I have a Voigtlander Bessa R2, a Konica Minolta Hexar RF, a Minolta CLE, an Olympus XA, and a Panasonic Lumix LX1 (digital point and shoot). See/hear the comparison by going to this URL:

http://www.clarkmackey.com

I'll leave it up for at least a few days.
 
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mackigator said:
Ok, this thread has made me curious enough to record my camera's shutter sounds. I have a Voigtlander Bessa R2, a Konica Minolta Hexar RF, a Minolta CLE, an Olympus XA, and a Panasonic Lumix LX1 (digital point and shoot). See/hear the comparison by going to this URL:

http://www.clarkmackey.com

I'll leave it up for at least a few days.

Nice job. The LX1 is funny. Thanks! I either own or have owned all these cameras. I forgot about the film advance of the XA, which is that annoying disposable camera film advance sound. I would have rated it near the top of the quietest cameras, but there really are two parts to shooting, as the sound of the Hexar RF illustrates.

:)
 
mackigator said:
Ok, this thread has made me curious enough to record the shutter sounds of my cameras. I have a Voigtlander Bessa R2, a Konica Minolta Hexar RF, a Minolta CLE, an Olympus XA, and a Panasonic Lumix LX1 (digital point and shoot). See/hear the comparison by going to this URL:

http://www.clarkmackey.com

I'll leave it up for at least a few days.

thank you soooo much :) to my ears, BESSA is louder than CLE just a liiiittle :)
 
The Bessa is the loudest and, because of its somewhat more metallic clank, it has been noticed in quiet moments; I can use the others without turning any heads. Especially the XA, which no one takes seriously at all.
 
My cameras in order of loudest,

EOS 3 (very loud indeed)
Bessa r2a (nowhere near as loud as the EOS 3 but still rather loud)
EOS 5D (surpisingly quiet)
EOS 30 (exceedingly quiet for an SLR)
Canonet QL17 G3 (very very quiet)

Yes the Bessa is loud. It shouldn't be much of a problem out on the street, but indoors it can be hopeless if you are trying to be discreet.
 
gareth said:
Yes the Bessa is loud.

No it is not loud.

Camera noise can be very different and covers a quite large range of loudness, from some of those almost soundless blade shutter cameras at the lower end up to beasts like a Bronica , Pentax 6X7, Practisix or Practica, just to mention a few of the "ca-tchunk" class. Between these extremes tho there are a lot of differentiations , which do not only depend on the design but also of the invidual camera model. So a good SLR can beat a RF indeed or be on par with it at least.
I know the extreme samples at both ends from my own experience, and since the 70s I know quite a bunch of the stuff in between, 35mm and 120, RF and SLR.

The Bessas place is in the more silent lower half, if not in the lower third. It does not belong to the loud cameras.

Bertram
 
I'm looking to buy an R2a, I already own an M6.

The M6 is nowhere near as quiet as I believed it would be before I got it - thats my fault for believing the hype about Leicas - though I still love it dearly.

However I have never been questioned, quizzed, threatened or caught because of the sound of my shutter firing, whereas there have been many times all of the above have happened simply because someone saw me put a camera to my eye.

I will still purchase an R2a as it suits my needs and the depth of my pockets at the moment - I'll try to be as discrete as possible with it but so long as I get the shot I'll worry about any consequences later.
 
OurManInTangier said:
However I have never been questioned, quizzed, threatened or caught because of the sound of my shutter firing, whereas there have been many times all of the above have happened simply because someone saw me put a camera to my eye.

Interesting point, unfortunately this is overseen too often in these often
useless academic discussions about noise.
One should think about the environment first, in which ( if at all) a bit more noise could be decisive for getting thrown out or not and if this situation is relevant for you.
I could not say that noise ever had been an issue for me , tho I shoot stage too.

Bertram
 
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