Did you buy a Leica only to find that the shutter was not as quiet as the hype?

I have a long-running project with young classical musicians and I need quiet. I too have found the M7 the quietest especially on the slower speeds, and a leaf shutter body quieter still. Still you need to be a bit skilled about when to shoot; know the music, click on forte and not on piano and so on. A Leica is about the noisiest camera I can use in such an environment.
 
jsrockit said:
Can I get some of your magic invisibility potion?
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... beer works OK 😀

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I was actually expecting it to be louder, TBH. To my ears, its as quiet as any of my leaf shutters (which is quite impressive, considering the designs), and much quieter than my Bessa and (old) Contax RF.
 
I had an M4 for a while, and it was a lot quieter indeed than my Bessa. It's not only that the absolute noise level is lower, it's also the way the shutter sounds; not a sharp 'click', but a more muffled 'clop'. I also found that the lens that's mounted has a big impact on the noise level. A leightweight 50/3.5 collapsible from the fifties seemed to amplify the shutter sound, while a heavier 50/2 M-Hexanon dampened vibrations more and led to more silent operation.
 
I agree, contrary to the bull**** stories, my M6 is not the quietest, a lot louder than Konica Hexar AF and about the same as my small SLRs like Minolta X700. But I dont care, I usually dont hide camera from people.
Where I see the huge difference- I can handheld 1/30 with no problems, even 1/15 sometimes. That's something I cannot do on SLR!
 
The shutter has never been as quiet as the hype with any Leica I have owned (at least one of every M type and a few LTM). What people are confusing is that the mirror assembly is silent, because it doesn't have one. If you take the mirror 'clack, clunk' out of it shutters are all pretty much the same for modern cameras that use the Copal shutter (Leica M9, Canon DSLR's etc). Earlier M's where quieter, but not by a lot. The type of shutter sound can confuse the issue as well, a smooth sound is always going to sound quieter than a sharper sound, even though they may be the same db level.

Steve
 
A brand new or recently CLA'd Leica M is not very loud but certainly not silent. I think the "kiss" of the shutter on a Leica verses the "slap" of the mirror on a SLR are what people were hyping. As far as I know, no one has claimed the the Leica M is quieter than silence.
 
I think the quiet reputation comes from comparisons with older SLRs, I fired my old T90 the other day and was amazed by just how loud it was, I didn't think it to be that loud when it was my regular work camera, horrible big clack. The one thing I miss about my M7 is the shutter, a quiet, and strangely satisfying little snick.
 
Interestingly its the love for street photography that brings people to Leica Ms, because somehow there is a match made in heaven between Leica Ms and street photography. But we know that is complete nonsense, especially these days, because the moment you go about with a Leica in your hand, everyone knows what camera you're using and they'll stare at you.

So, forget silence, if you want invisibility on the street the last thing you want is a Leica M in your hand.
 
GSNfan said:
Interestingly its the love for street photography that brings people to Leica Ms, because somehow there is a match made in heaven between Leica Ms and street photography. But we know that is complete nonsense, especially these days, because the moment you go about with a Leica in your hand, everyone knows what camera you're using and they'll stare at you.

So, forget silence, if you want invisibility on the street the last thing you want is a Leica M in your hand.
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I'm always surprised how few people know anything about them, they sometimes have heard of them, but couldn't identify one.
 
Not silent, not loud... What makes the Leica M's stand out sound wise is how unobtrusive the sound is, they produce a gentle, smooth "klack" that seems to drown very easily in ambient sound.

Besides, I wouldn't want my M or future LTM to be too quiet... I find the sound really helps during shooting, especially if I am going to be shooting shots in fast succession, it gives the entire practice a sort of rythm.
 
My answer is: Yes, for me, it does live up to the hype. My 1959 M3 is quiet. As others have said, it's not just the absolute noise level we're talking about, but the quality and type of muted "snick"-noise it makes. It's not silent, nor is it the quietest, but it very unobtrusive in shooting situations. I've used almost every make and type of 35mm camera for the last 35+ years before finally getting a Leica M a few years ago, so I think I have a reasonable basis for comparison. 🙂
 
They are the quietest of any interchangeable lens camera, excluding leaf shutters. The M7 being the most quiet of any Leica M. Sometimes, in certain situations, I have had to check that the shutter actually fired! My MP and M9 are a very close second. If properly cleaned, adjusted, and lubricated, they should be pretty quiet.
 
GSNfan said:
Interestingly its the love for street photography that brings people to Leica Ms, because somehow there is a match made in heaven between Leica Ms and street photography. But we know that is complete nonsense, especially these days, because the moment you go about with a Leica in your hand, everyone knows what camera you're using and they'll stare at you.

So, forget silence, if you want invisibility on the street the last thing you want is a Leica M in your hand.
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Yep, my Leicas are the only cameras that people will notice and comment on... like "woah, nice Leica!" or when I was sitting at the window eating chicken in a restaurant with my M8.2 on the counter and a guy came over and banged on the window from outside and gave me two thumbs up... 😱
 
Until now, I don't know any film-camera quieter than my Olympus XA. Just took pictures yesterday in my japanese learning class from two people that sit about 2m away from me, facing me, but looked in another direction. I took 8 pictures, until they noticed...

Despite it's other limitations, it's one of the best cameras for very discreet photography in public I can Imagine. I would say, it's shutter not half as loud as the power-switch of the R-D1...
 
bobbyrab said:
I think the quiet reputation comes from comparisons with older SLRs...
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I had to laugh a little. I don't own a Leica, but the quietest SLRs I have used have been the old ones. My Mamiya 1000 DTL (ca. 1969) has an incredibly smooth and quiet shutter. I think part of that is the dampening effect of camera mass. The smoothest and quietest SLR I have used was a Pentax SV from the early '60s.

As mentioned in several other comments, nothing beats a leaf shutter, particularly an electromechanical type. My quietest camera is my Olympus XA, followed closely by either of my Yashica Lynx with Copal SV shutter.

For those of you that have been disappointed by the sound of your Leica shutters, I hope that the rest of your ownership experience is much better!


Steve
 
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