How Loud is Your R4 Bessa in a Quiet Room?

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Leighgion

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I've some searching around and found various comments regarding the shutter noise of the Cosina Voigtlanders. Many have expressed surprise at how loud they are for a rangefinder design. Others have said it's not as loud as you might think, that the particular quality of the sound makes it stand out more and that it's not noticeable on a busy street. None that I've found though, have outright claimed the Bessas are quiet.

Call me picky, but I find the absolute loudness of a rangefinder's shutter is a make or break point for whether or not I'm interested in one. My Olympus XA is currently the gold standard for quiet shutter. XA is so quiet I can shoot in a library and nobody notices me. Much louder than that I wouldn't be interested, as the whole draw of an RF camera to me is being able to shoot like a ghost. Otherwise, I reach for an SLR.

I've read some vague implications at the R3s were quieter than the R2s. Anybody with an R4 want to comment on how much snap their camera has in a quiet room?
 
Coming from DSLRs, my R4A is soo quite. I compared it to this guys M6 and we both agreed that it was only a little more audible than the M6. More of a metallic click.
A person on a quite street 10 ft. away wouldn't even here it IMO.
As for indoors, I was in a college library during finals a few weeks back and snapped a shot of two people studying at a table 10 ft. away and they didn't seem to notice. They may have been deep in thought though. 🙂
 
I'd say on a scale from 0 to 10, my M7 is about 2, the ZI about 3-4, the R4A and R3A about 5, my FM3a 7-8, my Fuji S3 Pro 10, and my Hasselblads 20 ! ;-)
BTW, putting a Luigi half case on, lowers these values by 1.
 
tell you the truth, the camera will always seem loud because your head is next to it, its not loud in the grand scheme of things though, if you are too worried about it get a point and shoot digital with a finder and turn off the shutter noise
 
Yashica Electro 35 GSN is so quiet I sometimes wonder if I took a picture.

I think - but don't know for sure - that the R4A/M cameras produce less shutter release noise than a Bessa R. Maybe some one knows more about this.

Ted
 
Volume-wise, the sound of the R4 is just a little louder than the M7, but quality-wise, the higher pitched, metallic sound of the R4 tends to attract more attention. On the street, I haven't found it to be a problem. At home, my kids rarely notice when I'm shooting with the M, but with the R4, I can only get off one shot before they are climbing all over me to see the "picture on the back of the camera" :bang: 😀
 
The only good way to settle the shutter noise question would be for someone to measure decibel levels in a controlled environment. The homebrew recordings several folks have posted to the web are useful, but, presumably, not controlled.

Even then, the nature of the sound is as important as the decibel level in determining if it attracts attention. One thing that all RF's have going for them is that most people expect a camera shutter to sound like a DSLR. An RF sounds sufficiently different so it may be noticed but not recognized.

My R4M doesn't seem to me to be especially quiet. If someone clicked it off in the next room, in an otherwise quiet home, I think I'd hear it.
 
pphuang said:
Volume-wise, the sound of the R4 is just a little louder than the M7, but quality-wise, the higher pitched, metallic sound of the R4 tends to attract more attention.
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I'm with Paul here. I have two M7s and one R4A and the sound of the CV is not much louder than the Leicas (if it is at all) but it is qualitatively different. The frequency is higher, a bit more "metallic" sounding if you will. The difference is miniscule though.
 
agree - my bessa shutters are a little bit louder than my m6 'in a quiet room'. it's nearly silent next to my 1dmk3 and especially my bronica sqai. on the street from a few feet away, you couldn't really hear the r4 or the m6.
 
spiderfrank said:
Last month I made a photo to a girl walking on the street 2 meters from me, with my Bessa R: she heard it and noticed me... I smiled, and no problem ;-)
Click to expand...

I've said this before, and I'll say it again 😉 ,

Don't people notice the guy with a camera in his face pointed their way, noise or no noise?
 
i have posted this before and the information has been largely ignored...but here goes again.

i made several readings with my spl (sound pressure level meter, that i use to tune up my home theatre) and the readings for the r cameras, the zi and an m3 that i once had were all the same.
the difference is in the type of sound that each camera produces. the zi and the r cameras produce a metallic sound, complete with a bit of echo while the m3 was more of a 'snick'.
the m3 appeared to be quieter.
 
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