bessa vs russian shutter noise

[Bruce A]

The idea of a cheap, modern bocy that will use most of my lenses is very tempting. One of the big complaints I read about the bessa is about shutter noise, but most of the comparisons are made to leicas. My rangefinders consist of a mottley assortment of feds, zorkis and kievs. My zorkis and feds are not terribly quiet cameras, the quietest being a zorki 1. What I would like to hear is someone who has used both the ruskies and the bessa tell me how they think they compare.

 

[back alley]

bruce, welcome to the forum.

i have a fed 2 and a bessa r. the fed is a bit quieter i think but mostly the sound is different from each other.
the fed is more of a softer sound than the bessa, which has a metal shutter.
is the bessa loud? will it scare off a flock of wild birds or wake a slumbering bear? the leica guys would love for us all to believe this but it's not true.
i shoot almost exclusively on the street, at festivals, markets and tourist areas - normally busy places and the only time people notice my taking their picture is when they see me. i have yet to have anyone look up from the sound of the shutter firing.

is it as quiet as a leica, no most definately not, will it burn a hole in your shutter when out in the sun? no, most definately not!
life is a balancing act.

joe

 

[bmattock]

In general, rangefinder shutters are quieter than SLR shutters, because they don't have to flap a mirror around. However, focal-plane shutters are noisier than leaf-shutters and probably always will be.

In my experience, my Bessa R is quieter than my Zorki 4k. The Zorki is a standard cloth horizontal-traveling focal-plane shutter, and goes off like a thunderclap. The Bessa R is a 'Copal Square' vertically-traveling focal-plane metal shutter. Quieter and quicker, in my humble opinion. Meaning it is not only quiet, but the racket it makes is over quickly. It is not a LOT quieter, but it is SOMEWHAT quieter.

However, all of them are aced by a good leaf-shutter rangefinder camera - those tend to be VERY quiet, and some are church-like quiet. If quiet is a need - and for some it is - than you might want to look at a fixed-lens rangefinder camera with a leaf shutter.

Hope this helps!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Bruce A]

Thanks. That is exactly the info I was looking for.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I would like to add that my Kiev 4A is amazingly quiet, fires with a "Sllippp" kind of sound, and is cheap at $40 or so. The trick is to find one from a reliable dealer that has checked it out. Not as quiet as a Leica or my Kodak IIIS. The latter has interchangeable lenses and a leaflet shutter. Goes for $100~$150. It is almost as quiet as my M3 that Youxin Ye CLA'd... On the M3, I thought the shutter was not firing correctly until I got the pictures back. It is whisper quiet.

 

[tedwhite]

I used both Bessa R and Bessa L at a wedding Sunday and no one seemed to notice when I released the shutters. A guest had an older big black Nikon SLR, and when it went off people flinched. Or turned around. Then I used my Yashica GSN. It is so silent the only way I know if it's gone off is if I can move the film advance lever.

 

[peter_n]

Bruce welcome to the forum and I would like to second Bill's post. I have a need for quiet shutters and I use a Leica M6TTL which is great. I recently got a Canonet QL-17 (fixed 40mm lens) but the camera has a leaf shutter and IMO it is quieter than the Leica. 🙂

 

[FrankS]

My Bessa R is louder than one FED2 and a bit less noisy (I couldn't write quieter) than another FED2 I have. Qieter than all of the above is a Kiev 4am I just got. My M2 and M3 are quieter still, but louder than most of the leaf-shutter cameras I have (except for a Fujica GS645W, which goes off with a CLACK!)

 

[kiev4a]

A lot depends on the camera. If you cla a Zorki 1 or FED 1 and everything is adjusted properly, it hardly makes any noise. But if it hasn't been lubed and the curtains with wrapped ends have been replaced by curtains with crimped metal curtain laths, it'll make more of a clack. Any of the later Zorkis and FEDs will make more noise than the early models. Can't compare it to a Bessa since I have never been around one but since the Bessa has a metal shutter (I think) I suspect it would be louder. Nikkormats weren't particularly quiet cameras.

 

[sockeyed]

I would also like to add that I think that the newer Bessas (R2A and R3A) have slightly quieter electronic shutters than the R's mechanical shutter.

 

[geoset]

My Bessa R3A is moderately quiet. It is quite acceptable for street photgraphy but doesn't compare to my leaf-shutter Retina IIIC.

 

[Solinar]

If you notice people are turning to look at the camera in your photos, then it is too loud. As Frank mentioned leaf-shutters win the quiet award.

And Frank, I didn't think that the shutter on that FED 2e was that loud. By the way, the shutter on the IIIf Black Dial is quieter than the shutter of a IIIf Red Dial that I received from a retired teacher.

 

[ErnestoJL]

Welcome to the forum Bruce! I´ve been using for many years a Kiev 4 (´66 model) with a Contax like metal FP shutter which makes almost no noise, as most of the good RFs with leaf shutters. This camera runs for USD 40 / 60 which is not too high. However, I have a Yashica MG1 which is noisier than any other, being this one more the exception than the rule. If you want close-to-zero noise and need no lens changing, I would suggest to try a fixed lens RF. Besides, they will flash sync at any speed. My choices: "New" Canonet QL19 /G III, Yashica Electro 35 /GT/GTN, MInolta HiM 9 /11...

 

[FrankS]

Andrew, the FED2e that I got from you (thanks again!) is the quieter one, quieter than my Bessa R. The other FED2e (a black one!) has a snappier (and louder) sounding shutter- I think the shutter curtain tension is a bit too high.

 

[tedwhite]

Today I received in the mail a freshly CLA'd Pentax Spotmatic SP SLR from Eric Hendrickson in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, who is a specialist at repairing Spotmatics.

After reading this thread I screwed a Jupiter 9 onto the body and, as there was no film in the camera, I fired off a few. I never thought much about SLR shutter release noise, assuming they were always louder than any camera other than a Kowa 6; but I was amazed to discover that my Spotmatic bodies (3 - all CLA'd recently) were quieter than my Bessa R, Bessa L, FED 2, Zorki 4K. Only the Kiev 4AM was about as quiet.

I'm impressed.

 

[wlewisiii]

My Kievs are fairly quiet - certainly in relation to my Canon AE-1 or Mamiya 1000DTL - but if I want pure quiet, nothing beats my folders. The Karat is great if you want a compact and quiet little stealth camera with a reasonably fast lens (2.8) and a leaf shutter. But I've used my Kievs in church regularly and most times the only ones who notice are orher photographers. For everything I do, shutter noise really isn't a concern and I'd never even considered it prior to first reading this site.

William

 

[rbiemer]

Don't own a Bessa, but my FED 5 seems fairly loud. My Zorki 3m is much quieter(especially now that it's off to be repaired). My Kiev 4a('67) is very quiet except at the slow speeds--then the buzz noise is very noticable.
Rob

 

[kiev4a]

Today I received in the mail a freshly CLA'd Pentax Spotmatic SP SLR from Eric Hendrickson in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, who is a specialist at repairing Spotmatics.

After reading this thread I screwed a Jupiter 9 onto the body and, as there was no film in the camera, I fired off a few. I never thought much about SLR shutter release noise, assuming they were always louder than any camera other than a Kowa 6; but I was amazed to discover that my Spotmatic bodies (3 - all CLA'd recently) were quieter than my Bessa R, Bessa L, FED 2, Zorki 4K. Only the Kiev 4AM was about as quiet.

I'm impressed.

Spotmatics always made less noise that most other slrs. Don't they have cloth shutters? That could explain part of it. They must also have better mirror damping.

 

[Roman]

My Bessa R is by far the loudest RF I have, even a few of my SLRs are quieter (Pentax Super A, for example). My quietest RFs are my Oleg-tuned Zorki 6 and FED-2, and my Kievs - they are more quiet that most of my leaf shutter RFs; my other (non-Olegized) FED-2 and FED-5v are much louder, though.
The Bessas are great, versatile, bang-for-the-buck cameras with absolutely marvellous viewfinders - but quiet they are NOT, with a little tune-up every Russian RF will be much more quiet!

Roman

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

You want a loud shutter? Get an Argus C-4 or C-44. The report from the shutter sounds like the hammer from a .38 special clapping an empty chamber.

My coworkers have commented that my C-44 sounds like "It means business." The darn thing makes my Bessa and my FEDs sound like Tinkerbell.