Shutter noise - new M7

[Artem]

Until recently I had not owned an M. This changed upon my purchase of a new M7 only weeks ago. Now, I am not much worried by the shutter noise: however, I had read and been told of how almost inaudible it was. On my camera it is audible, though I should mention I have only so far shot in quiet areas or by my lonesome and I am quite young so my hearing is yet to show signs of damage! So, all I ask is really whether I should be hearing much noise if anything and perhaps by inaudible many truly mean a smoother noise rather than crashing and clicking associated with SLRs?

Other than this I am overjoyed by superb design and ease of use I've experienced so far. The biggest problem is trying not to photograph everything I see. 😛

Thanks 🙂

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I don't have any experience with the M7, but the shutter is electronic, I don't know what kind of difference that would make as far as the noise is concerned, but I believe it is still a cloth shutter.

Leica Ms are not silent, they are simply quiet relative to most other cameras out there. Definitively quieter than a Bessa-R or R2, and quieter than any SLR I know.

Only two cameras, in my experience, that beat the Leica M in the "noise" department are: Rolleiflex, and Minox 35.

 

[rover]

Yeah, it sounds like your Leica is normal. That whole shutter noise thing is a big lie. I mean, if anyone tells you that they photograph using a Leica in a silent church without disturbing the praying nuns, well, they are lying. The nuns didn't notice the shutter noise because they had fallen asleep.

The Leica shutter is quiet, very quiet, and has a deepish tone so it blends into background noise well. But, it isn't silent.

On an up note, the alleged slow bottom loading thing is a lie too. I find loading my M6 is much easier and faster than any rear door camera (other than a Canon QL 17 GIII Canonet) that I have owned.

Enjoy your camera, go ahead and photograph everything you see.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

On an up note, the alleged slow bottom loading thing is a lie too. I find loading my M6 is much easier and faster than any rear door camera (other than a Canon QL 17 GIII Canonet) that I have owned.

You know, I've found the GIII QL-17 to be one of the slowest ones for me to load film into. Loading film in my M6 is the quickest of any of my film cameras. The slowest is a tie between a Hasselblad C12 back and my Minox...and I know that's just plain wrong. 😱

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Yeah. What Rover said. It's a machine. It makes a noise. The Hexar AF, Rolleiflex, Minox GT (any camera with a copal between-the-lens shutter) will be quieter than a focal plane shutter. The M7, with its electronically timed shutter, does make less noise than an M6, mostly because at the slower speeds there is no whirr/buzz of the slow-speed escapement just a .snik.. . .snik as the shutter curtains travel across the film gate. However, on movie sets (or anywhere else that you really need quiet) photographers use a camera with a motor drive inside a big square box called a "blimp". Lining the inside of the blimp is that pointy foam stuff that looks like it is for transporting eggs. The whole thing looks like a giant black underwater housing, except the purpose is to kill sound waves rather than keep out water. There's a button on the box and a linkage to the camera's motor drive. Now that's silent. Hell, put a Nikon F3 and a motor in there and it's still silent. Don't worry. On a busy street, no one will hear you with your M.

 

[Artem]

Thanks all for prompt replies. I thought this was the case, which delights me absolutely as now I needn't worry about having a particularly noisy camera. I must really admit I haven't had this much fun with a camera since I picked up one for an extended period of time in high school, the price and value of which I cannot begin to estimate.

 

[PaulN]

I agree with Rover. I thought my MP was going to be silent, but it isn't. I verified this with another model in the store. They do make noise. Dependent upon the level of background noise, it can blend right in though. On the street, it is silent. During a party, it is silent. Will it wake up my one year old when I take pictures of him sleeping? Yeah, it has happened a couple of times already..

As for bottom loading being fast, I also agree. I have only had one mishap when I really botched and the bottom plate fell off because I was in a hurry. My baby got her first ding, and I lost a couple of velvia frames.. I've put over 100 rolls through it since with no problems whatsoever.

 

[peter_n]

Another vote for Rover. The M7 is quiet but not noiseless. It is very slightly quieter than my M6TTL, especially for the slower speeds. Your M7 is normal - sounds like you are enjoying it! 🙂

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

LOL!!! - Yeah Rover! blah blah blah blah --- is the mic on? 😉

 

[Doug]

😀 Yeah, a quiet businesslike little snik, but not silent... My M2 got quieter (and smoother) after its CLA also, as it had developed a little squeak unbecoming a Leica. It's quieter than any other focal-plane shutter camera I have, though not quieter than my Bronica RF645.

The bottom loading isn't bad after a bit of getting-used-to, maybe about equal to my CLE. Not as easy as the M-series Pentaxes like the MX with those handy "magic fingers" on the takeup spool, but the easiest I have to load is the Contax G2 (probably about the same as the Canon QL which I haven't used).

The prize for both noise and fiddly reloading is the Pentax 67, the price one pays for its other attributes. 🙂

 

[ywenz]

I am quite young so my hearing is yet to show signs of damage!

LOL, i bet that's how the myth started in the first place.. by bunch of old geezers who can't hear..

 

[ZeissFan]

Only two cameras, in my experience, that beat the Leica M in the "noise" department are: Rolleiflex, and Minox 35.

I think I would rank them as follows in terms of "quieter than a Leica."

-- Minox35

-- Retina IIIS

-- Rolleiflex Automat + lettered models

I haven't worked with a Hexar in stealth mode or whatever they call it. Those are supposed to be very quiet.

I will say that my Contax IIa is very quiet at 1/25-1/100 and not so quiet at 1/250-1/1250.

 

[ywenz]

I'll add the
Yashica Electro 35
Yashica Mat 124G

 

[sf]

what they mean is not that it is silent, but that it is quite a bit less audible than any SLR, and even that most RFs. The sound is like a quiet, muffed tap. Kind of like the sound my finger makes gently tapping the key on this keyboard. Certainly loud by comparison with silence, but silent by comparison with something like my Canon AE-1 which has a very industrial shutter slash/click sound.

 

[rover]

LOL!!! - Yeah Rover! blah blah blah blah --- is the mic on? 😉

I wish my wife would agree with me like this. 😀

 

[Frank Granovski]

It's a machine. It makes a noise.

Not my Yashica Electro GSN, Voigtlander Vitomatic 11b and Olympus 35RC. They used to build quiet rangefinders back then. 🙂

 

[elcud35rc]

Not my Yashica Electro GSN, Voigtlander Vitomatic 11b and Olympus 35RC. They used to build quiet rangefinders back then. 🙂

Would you consider the 35RC quiet? That is what I have!! My first one. 😛

 

[Bertram2]

I'll add the
Yashica Electro 35
Yashica Mat 124G

The Mat124 IS almost inaudible indeed, it happened out on the street that I did not hear the shutter , tho while looking through the finder loupe my ears weren't more than 6" away from the shutter.

I know the M6 shutter only, it is undoubtedly quieter than a Bessa shutter but not enuff to say that's another world. This is where blade shutters work, unsurpassable,
maybe a pinhole is more inaudible. 😀

B.
.

 

[Doug]

Sometimes a little sound is useful feedback. In an outdoor pedestrian area with shops, reasonably quiet with no vehicle noise, I made a shot with my Fuji GA645 but then couldn't make a second shot. The camera turned on and off normally, but the LCD showed a blinking line of dashes and the shutter button was unresponsive. I took the batteries out, waited a bit and put them back in... no difference. After more frustrated fiddling I gave up. Back at our accomodations, I took the Fuji into the dark bathroom and popped the back to see if perhaps the film had jammed. Well, it was at the end of the roll, paper backing wrapped around the takeup spool. Duh... no wonder the camera wouldn't take another shot! I had not heard the motor winder run the trailing paper off onto the spool, and didn't know I'd reached the end.