Film SLR with the smoothest shutter/mirror return

Don´t know wich is the smoothest but the Spotmatic is a beautiful musical instrument. The worst maybe the Rollei 6006
 
sailor said:
Couldn't agree more. The F2 is nowhere near as smooth as the F80. (I've just tried both of them).
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I like my F2, but there's no way I'd consider its shutter quiet or smooth. It's not as loud as my FM2n with MD-12 attached, but it certainly does make a racket.
 
Timmyjoe said:
I like my F2, but there's no way I'd consider its shutter quiet or smooth. It's not as loud as my FM2n with MD-12 attached, but it certainly does make a racket.
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Yup, both my F2 and both my F cameras are loud. One of my F2s made a metallic ding! before I had the mirror foams replaced.
The smoothest SLR I have used is the F6. Which makes sense as even though it is 10 years old (?) it is still the most sophisticated film SLR made.
 
shadowfox said:
Don't forget, if you want a smooth mirror return on any SLR that has one, check the bumper foam, if it has become spongy and sticky, contact Jon Goodman, and get the perfect material to replace it. It's an easy fix and immediate result.
D
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+1 for Jon Goodman... I just finished replacing the foam bumper on my Nikon F which had turned to primordial goo. I sent Jon an email and he put the foam kit in the mail even before receiving my payment. The job was simple thanks to his wonderful instructions.
 
Agree about the F6...especially in the silent single-frame mode...the motor slows down, and it's about as quiet as a mechanical film Leica (M6 anyway).
 
nobbylon said:
2 years on from my original reply post and I would now say it has to be my F6.
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+1.
I've used lots of different SLRs from various manufacturers in the last decades.
And the Nikon F6 has indeed the smoothest operation, especially shutter and mirror operation.
They are extremely well dampened, so I can also use longer shutter times and get sharp pictures. I get about a full stop more with the F6.

Another big advantage:
Not only the shutter / mirror operation is extremely smooth and silent, but the film advance motor makes no noise at all when shooting:
You click the shutter, but you only hear a little, very low-level noise from the mirror, but not from the motor!!
It's incredible!
Nikon did an excellent job with the design of this camera.

Cheers, Jan
 
Your examples may vary, but both my Nikon F5 and Nikon F100 are remarkably smooth and quiet. There seems to be no vibration or mirror slap with either, despite the fact that they autowind as well !
 
Another vote for the N/F80 - so gentle and quiet. Any "pro" Nikon is much louder. I've shot various Pentaxes (SP, K1000, MX, ME, ZX5) and Konica (TC, FS-1). ZX-5 was pretty good too. Higher the sync speed, the louder the shutter. (Focal-plane shutters only!)
 
My Nikon F6 is by far the smoothest SLR I've ever used. After owning one for a year about five years ago I recently got another one. When I started shooting it, the shutter speeds seemed longer than they should be. Then it dawned on me that it was actually the sound of the motor drive advancing the film.
 
MaxElmar said:
Another vote for the N/F80 - so gentle and quiet. Any "pro" Nikon is much louder.
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With all respect, but.....no!
I am using both the F80 and the F6, but the F6 is even more silent.
The main difference is that when shooting you don't hear the film advance motor of the F6 at all.
But you hear the F80 film motor.
I absolutely agree that the F80 is very smooth and silent.
But the F6 is even better.
 
This thread reminds me of all the testing the magazines used to do back in the day. They'd put cameras on a piece of foam rubber and set them off using the self timer.
Wonder what you'd get today with some digitals.
 
Absolutely, remarkably, the Pentax S3 has the most astonishingly gentle shutter and mirror action. I have yet to use a Camera that comes even close.
 
It doesn't quite fit into the thread title because it's a digital but the Sigma SD1M has an incredible shutter and mirror action. I don't know how they did it but it manages to make my F6 feel a little agricultural. It's quieter and smoother than my M2!
 
This...


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Pneumatic mirror damper, whisper quiet shutter release and metal shuttered, vertical traverse makes the XD7 peerless in quietness and lack of vibration...:cool:
 
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