silent fixed RF

[meste]

Hi,

I am waiting for a Canonet GQ17 to arrive from ebay which I got because I am looking for a silent RF

What people from their experience can propose for another RF, even more silent than the Canonet.

thanks,
meste

 

[IGMeanwell]

Hexar AF has a silent mode

but my Yashica GS is close to silent, just a slight click of the shutter and then the subtle whine of the film advance

 

[meste]

Hexar AF has a silent mode

but my Yashica GS is close to silent, just a slight click of the shutter and then the subtle whine of the film advance

thanks, do you happen to know if Yashica GS is more silent than Canonet GQ17?

meste

 

[rxmd]

thanks, do you happen to know if Yashica GS is more silent than Canonet GQ17?

I'd be surprised if it is.

With this type of camera you always have two different sounds. One is the shutter; there is not much of a difference in noise between leaf shutters on various fixed-lens rangefinder cameras IMHO. Or the difference is probably at least as much between individual cameras of the same model as between camera models. They are very quiet. From experience with my own QL17, in real-world situations nobody more than one or two meters away is going to notice the shutter sound unless they are looking at you and expecting to be photographed. In that case it doesn't make a difference anyway if they hear it or not.

And there is the sound of the film advance. The nice thing is that you have control over when and where you advance the film.

Just wait for your QL17 and try it out outside on a street. If that's not silent enough for the situations where you usually take pictures, I don't think there will be many fixed lens rangefinders which will solve your problem. In that case, I would think of getting a TLR, such as a Rolleicord or something, where the film advance is noiseless and the camera is usually not held at eye (and ear) level.

Philipp

 

[douwe]

yashica electro 35 cc is quite silent

yashica electro 35 cc is quite silent

I own quite some fixed lens rangefinders:
canonet ql17 gIII
konica auto S2
yashica electro 35 GX and CC
olympus 35 SP
rollei XF 35
fujica compact deluxe

The most silent one is the CC because it has only few aperture blades and shutter blades I reckon. After that the yashica GX is very smooth, but the film advance is quite loud on both the yashicas. The canonet is not bad at all. Although the other cameras listed above all have better lenses.

Cheers,
Douwe

 

[papasnap]

Hi,

I am waiting for a Canonet GQ17 to arrive from ebay which I got because I am looking for a silent RF

What people from their experience can propose for another RF, even more silent than the Canonet.

thanks,
meste

Konica Hexar AF, for sure. It's very very quiet, even when not in "silent" mode. In silent mode, the shutter/film advance are so inaudible that I was never sure if I'd actually even taken a photo, unless I looked at the frame counter.

In silent mode the AF motor still emits a very low whirr as it focuses the lens, but this is very quiet, and you'd be hard pressed to find a situation where this would actually be disruptive - in most cases, the listener would probably have to be within or near the minimum focus distance of the lens in order to actually hear it.

 

[ltketch]

I have a Minolta 7Sii and its seems very quiet to the point that when outside I have to tell myself "trust that it actually did work", but I can't compare it to the QL17 having never used one!

 

[nzeeman]

i dont think you need something more silent than ql17. it is really silent camera. sometimes even i dont know if i took the photo or not.

 

[pesphoto]

I think the XA is the most silent one of them all. Actually, you cant even hear the shutter go off with it up to your eye.

 

[jlw]

I have a Minolta 7Sii and its seems very quiet to the point that when outside I have to tell myself "trust that it actually did work", but I can't compare it to the QL17 having never used one!

I'd second this nomination. All the leaf-shutter compact 35s are fairly unobtrusive compared to, say, a motorized SLR of the '80s. But of the ones I've used -- which include the QL17, Konica Auto S2 and S3, and Olympus 35 SP in addition to the Minolta Hi-Matic 7s2 -- I'd say the 7s2 was the most quiet of the group, and the Olympus was the least quiet.

I'd also say subjectively that the 7s2 is quieter than an M-series Leica, the Olympus is a bit noisier, and the others are roughly a tie.

Caveats:

Of course they all make slightly different kinds of noise, and because of this one might be more or less obtrusive than another depending on the situation.

I wouldn't categorize any of them as "silent" -- if you're shooting in a quiet room, people nearby will be able to hear the click. I don't know if the Hexar AF's vaunted "silent" mode is really silent either, having never used one.

Also note that I'm talking about shooting at typical hand-held speeds. If you're making long exposures, an electronic-shutter camera such as one of the Yashicas might be quieter, because it lacks the buzzing gear train of a mechanical shutter.

All of which goes to show that when it comes to which camera is quietest, there's more to it than meets the ear...

 

[Finder]

One one can hear my Hexar Silver when I take a picture.

 

[Poptart]

I think the XA is the most silent one of them all. Actually, you cant even hear the shutter go off with it up to your eye.

I second. Sometimes mine goes off accidentally (b/c of the electromagnic release) and I'm not sure it has fired until I try winding the flm.

 

[Pherdinand]

the canonet has a more silent film wind/shutter cock than the yashica g,gs,gsn,...
BUT
the canonet has a mechanical shutter and at speeds below 1/15 you can hear the buzz, while the yashica's electronic shutter just produces two very very faint clicks. No buzz.
Side note: these two faint clicks can be at half a minute distance from each other 😉 while the canonet only goes down to 1/4 second.

 

[eli griggs]

Olympus XA and the Yashica GS/GTN in that order. You might look at the zone focus Olympus XA2 as well.

Eli

 

[Trius]

Olympus LC (and I assume the LE) is very quiet.

 

[meste]

thanks, so many useful info here

 

[charjohncarter]

This is very quiet when releasing the shutter, maybe the quietest I've ever heard. But cocking the film advance is probably the noisiest I've ever heard.

 

[cmedin]

My Hi-Matic 11 is stupidly quiet, to the point where you're questioning whether it actually fired or not.

 

[meste]

This is very quiet when releasing the shutter, maybe the quietest I've ever heard. But cocking the film advance is probably the noisiest I've ever heard.

what camera is it?

 

[tajart]

stealth

stealth

do i recall that in stealth mode on the hexar af, that the film advance can be delayed by keeping your finger on the shutter release? i seem to remember someone here mentioning this, who in sensitive photo situations would keep the button depressed and move the camera behind his back or put inside his jacket to further muffle the film advance.
i was taking a portrait of an artist in front of her work and she tried to anticipate when i was going to shoot (Leica IIIf)- she was a bit frustrated when i told her i had already taken 3 shots.
quiet is nice but less vibration is really helpful.