Stealth camera?

Mark:

I have the Yashica T4 Super, bought it new in 1997, works great, especially the WLF which, in my opinion, makes it the ideal "stealth" camera. You look like you're fiddling with this camera when you're really taking pictures.

Noise: You really can't hear the shutter go off; what you hear is the motor advancing the film to the next frame. It would be impossible to hear if there is ambient noise. If there isn't any a/n then maybe it could be heard 5-6 feet away.

But my new candidate for stealth camera is the Leica 111f I bought yesterday. I put the Color Skopar c/v 35/2.5 on it so it ought to be a good street shooter. Not as small as the Yashica (but almost) and not as tall as my Bessa R.

And quiet? Definitely wins in that category.
 
Jeremy Z said:
I just finally read the whole thread. There are some good suggestions, but it seems that about 60% recommend the XA, another 30% recommend the Hexar, and 10% other things.

I guess it comes down to what you want in stealth shooting. If you don't want someone to see or hear the camera, the XA wins, hands-down. Sure the Hexar has a quiet shutter and film advance, but it is HUGE compared to the XA.

Another thought would be Rollei 35. That one has character; a lot of us love ours. This one is also big compared to the XA, and forces/allows you to set exposure manually. Quiet shutter, but louder than the XA. Quite a bit more lumpy with more protrusions. It would look funny in a shirt or pants pocket.

Another thought: Olympus XA4. These are bloody hard to find, but have a 28mm lens, so zone focusing is even easier.

Lastly, Olympus RC. I don't know yet how the lens compares to the XA, but I bet it's better since it is the same speed but isn't so compact. It's a little bigger than the XA & Rollei 35, but still small, and it feels kind of like a tiny SLR in the hand. (and control layout)

I love these little fixed lens rangefinders/scale focusers. Less is more! ;) It's amazing, the quality optics you get for such a small amount of money.

-Jeremy
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I can palm my RC and release my shutter with my left thumb, I don't even look thru the viewfinder.
 
If you read carefully, you will also see that most people in the thread who have owned both the XA and the Hexar (myself included) have recommended the Hexar. It is simply a better camera. The lens is better and faster, it is quieter and yet it has autofocus, auto-film advance and rewinding. The Olympus is AE only, no manual functions and it's ISO range is only 25-800, the Hexar is 6-6400. Shooting over ISO 800 and having an f/2 versus an f/2.8 lens is an important feature in low-light shooting. Additionally, the Hexar uses an IR focusing beam so it will focus perfectly even in the dark. Yes, it is bigger and it has a 1/250th top speed, but it is fairly non-descript...it does not look like a pro camera and as such it does not attract much attention. If you bring a camera up to your face and people are looking at you, it will not make much of a difference whether it looks like a XA or a Hexar...both are pretty unthreatening. A Hassie or a pro DSLR is of course a different story...

Anyway, I come out strongly in favor of the Hexar because I have had a ton of cameras, XA included, but the Hexar is something special.
 
StuartR said:
If you read carefully, you will also see that most people in the thread who have owned both the XA and the Hexar (myself included) have recommended the Hexar. It is simply a better camera.
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I am now waiting for a Hexar to come along. But there are not many available here in the UK for a good price unless I am looking in the wrong places.

I also just bought an XA2 with flash for £15 so I will give that a try. At this price what have I got to lose? If I really like it I might upgrade to an XA, but the Hexar is now on my priority GAS list :rolleyes:
 
Hexar, how loud?

Hexar, how loud?

I finally found a shop that has 2 black Hexar AFs (one with flash). They are a bit pricey, but not extortionate. I went to have a look at them this afternoon and tried them out. I was surprised how loud the motor wind was, but the salesman didn't know whether they had silent mode switched on. Plus they didn't have manuals and we couldn't figure out how to do it. Both of them sounded exactly the same.

How quiet are these in silent mode? Ie is the motor truly silent? I compared them in the store with a Leica and a Contax and something else (I forget what). The Leica was marginally quieter. I held it at arms length and could quite clearly hear the Hexar. It wasn't terribly loud, but more than I expected. So in the end I didn't buy and am thinking it over. You wouldn't hear it in the street with traffic, though.
 
The normal mode is a lot louder than the silent mode. Don't be discouraged. The way to turn on the silent mode is, when the camera is off, hold down the MF button and turn on the camera. Assuming it works, it will show the letter L in the LCD display.
 
Does that mean that you have to do this every time you want silent mode? If that is the case then silent mode was definitely off on the camera and I don't remember seeing any L in the display (but I wasn't particularly looking either).

Thanks.
 
yeah, you have to do it every time you turn on the camera, but it is no slower than just turning on the camera normally, so it is not a big deal. Also, when you don't use the silent mode the camera focuses and winds faster, so if you don't need the silent mode you can just leave it off.
 
GAS attack

GAS attack

Thanks, Stuart. I just called the store and they tried it and it works. The camera is now 'inifinitely quieter'. So I just bought it. Well it is a nice camera anyway...
 
Trust me, it is far, far quieter. Sometimes when you are outside you can't even hear it when you have it pressed up against your face. When I was shooting silent mode on the street, your best bet is to feel the vibration...that is how you know you have taken the shot, not the sound.
 
I was about to put my Hexar AF up for sale - recent GAS attacks have distracted me and the AF has sat on the shelf for a month. Reading Stuart's paeans has reminded me how much I like this lump and why I bought it in the first place.

<sigh> so much for slimming down my gear.

- John
 
I'll second what StuartR said about not being able to hear it when used outside. It is quiet even when in normal mode and on a number of occasions I've found myself taking another shot just to make sure. I often end up with two shots exactly the same. My Hexar doesn't get used nearly enough (I have the Silver version) but having followed this thread it has encouraged me to give it an airing. So I've loaded a roll of Fuji Pro 160C in it today (a film I've never tried yet) so I hope to get something worthy of putting in my gallery. Hoping to take it to the US in a few weeks time so I could do to brush up on it's quirky handling.

BTW what's the weather like in New York guys? I heard you've got snow! More importantly what's it gonna be like when I get there in the middle of May?
 
It snowed intermittently all weekend.. It seemed like someone was throwing off the roof tops.

Middle of May should be nice, but then again the weathers been very strange..
 
It's fairly nice right now. Up to about 55 (that's 12.7C), but it will get cold again tonight. This is a weird time of year...bring lots of layers. Any given day could be in the 30s or the 60s...and bring an umbrella. Keep in mind that just because it is fairly warm in terms of temperature, it might be cold in the city because the buildings keep much of it in shadow all day, it tends to be windy and you will be outside for a long time walking around.
But anyway, by the middle of May it should be nicer. May and September are probably the nicest months of the year in the Northeast.
 
Both!

Both!

I'd say get a Hexar and an XA or XA-4. Different cameras for different jobs really. Granted you can use any camera for anything, but some have their benefits :)

I'd say use the Hexar when stealth isn't quite as important (average street shooting) and the XA when steath is the most important thing.

I'm surprised more people didn't mention the XA-4. I just picked one up recently and couldn't be more happy with it. It's a great little camera and very sneaky. Here's a couple shots from it. Not the best scans though. The cop was about 10-12 feet away. I got a shot of him and another of his partner and neither of them noticed a thing.
 

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Lemures-Ex said:
I'd say get a Hexar and an XA or XA-4. Different cameras for different jobs really. Granted you can use any camera for anything, but some have their benefits :)

I'd say use the Hexar when stealth isn't quite as important (average street shooting) and the XA when steath is the most important thing.

I'm surprised more people didn't mention the XA-4. I just picked one up recently and couldn't be more happy with it. It's a great little camera and very sneaky. Here's a couple shots from it. Not the best scans though. The cop was about 10-12 feet away. I got a shot of him and another of his partner and neither of them noticed a thing.
Click to expand...

I have actually got an XA (and XA2) on order from someone here. I was thinking along the same lines as you. If the XAs don't work out then it is not a great loss at the price. I think the Hexar AF and XA combo may be just right. The XA will also go with me when it is too much to carry other stuff. XA4s seem pretty rare at least in the UK. Haven't seen one at all on ebay despite looking for a few weeks, but seen lots of XAs XA2s and XA3s. The AF seems like a very nice camera to have besides the stealth option.
 
mrtoml said:
XA4s seem pretty rare at least in the UK. Haven't seen one at all on ebay despite looking for a few weeks, but seen lots of XAs XA2s and XA3s. The AF seems like a very nice camera to have besides the stealth option.
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I've got an XA 4 that I haven't been using and have been thinking of posting here. It's in really nice condition with the strap that doubles as a rangefinder for the macro (stretch the strap for your "macro range"). If anyone is interested PM me. Otherwise it might be up here in the classifieds soon.
 
Hmmm. How does the XA 4 differ from the XA? I used to have an XA and it did the stealth act fairly well.
 
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