Railfan Technology > quietest still camera?

I am looking for info on the best Advanced Compact Digital Camera with no or little discernible shutter click. And while it does not echo off the hills like a D-SLR, I was quite disappointed over how loud the click is on the new Sony R1. Is there any website that lists/ranks still cameras by their most important feature: quiet shutter?

The Epson RD-1 rangefinder digital is probably in the running, but be prepared to pay mucho dinero for this one. It does take Leica lenses,as well as Voitlander and the new Zeiss Ikon Carl zeiss lenses.

Many of the non-dslr digicams are essentially silent in operation, my Fuji S602 had settings to emulate shutter noise so you'd be able to hear it function. Turned off, you'd hear zoom or focus action and that's all. You might be able to find some anecdotal comment on the "noise" on the Dpreview or Imaging Resource reviews when discussing the various dslrs but I don't think eiher specifically measure the mirror/shutter noise. From "wedding" forum, there are comments that some are louder than others, hasn't been an issue for me so don't recall which they've commented on as noisiest. That might be a place to ask though.

Why do you consider a quiet shutter
the most important feature of a digital
camera?

Dave



obsessed_foamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > I am looking for info on the best Advanced
> Compact Digital Camera with no or little
> discernible shutter click. And while it does not
> echo off the hills like a D-SLR, I was quite
> disappointed over how loud the click is on the new
> Sony R1. Is there any website that lists/ranks
> still cameras by their most important feature:
> quiet shutter?
>

dsktc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why do you consider a quiet shutter
> the most important feature of a digital
> camera?
>
> Dave

Even wuth shotgun mikes, a shutter clink can obliterate the audio tracks in a hurry....

Gateway97 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Epson RD-1 rangefinder digital is probably in
> the running, but be prepared to pay mucho dinero
> for this one. It does take Leica lenses,as well as
> Voitlander and the new Zeiss Ikon Carl zeiss
> lenses.

A little out of my price range, but more importantly, according to luminous landscape, its shutter noise is even worse than the Cannon 10D DSLR. My friend had a 10D, and I might as well have been standing next to a rock concert.

There are some quiet rangefinders out there, but I need something under a grand.

An alternative is a blimp case. Nikon makes the CS-13 which isn't too expensive, others I've seen were more substantial and much more expensive - probably even more effective. Just guessing but a commercial film type blimp wuld likely cost as much or more than a good digicam.

...can obliterate all the shutter noise and photo line chatter you would ever encounter. Just don't mount the microphone on the camera!

My experince has been that a shotgun on a fishpole, 6-8 feet above the photo line, is the best way to get rid of photo line background noise, including railfan banter.

The quietest film cameras had leaf shutters in the lenses. No single lens reflex cameras here mostly Lieca style bodies.
The same problems that plagues the film SLRs are still present with the digital SLRs, the reflex mirror that makes the viewfinder work will make some noise.
Any digital camera with an electronic view finder does away with this mirror and any other mechanical shutter as well. Yes, there is always light from the lens onto the camera sensor, nothing to block the view. when you want to take the photo, you push the release and the camera electronics make a capture of the image on the screen at that moment and the view finder goes dark or blank for just a small fraction of a second or until the camera is ready to take the next photo. This operation is noiseless and so the manufacturers have added and electronic "click" sound to reassure the photographer that the camera has functioned as desired. Many of these cameras have a menu option to silence that noise if you prefer.
Most of these models fall under the prosumer catagory of cameras. Higher resolution sensors, 5 mpix or greater, fixed wide ranging zoom 7x or better and full control of all camera functions in addition to full automatic.
Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus and Pentax make several high quality models in this catagory. If you read the reviews on www.dpreview.com and make a selection of a few of the models then you can go to the support section of the manufacturer's web site and likely download the complete instruction manual in PDF and read through it to see if the shutter noise can be defeated.
The Nikon 8800 and 8700 are probably top in this catagory and will give photos as high in quality as most entry level DSLRs unless you want enlargements greater than 14x20. I do not know if you can lose the shutter release noise with these models or not. Fuji's 9000 or 9500 give really vivid colors if you like and Canon models are always competitive. The Olympus 8080 has been well rated for years.

>

My old Canon G5 had on the menu shutter noise's so i think you can trun it off if you want IIRC Richard

I believe most Canons have a menu you can use to shut OFF all audio cues.

DaveL

I went down to Fry's and tried several advanced compacts. The Cannon Powershot pro and Sony V3 seemed to be the quiest once the fake shutter click. However, nothing was completely quiet. I did not get a chance to try any Nikons as there were no demo models. I also did not get a chance to directly compare the Sony R1 as it is not in stock yet, however the shutter click seemed way too loud on my friends R1.


I like the idea of using a mike on a grip over a photo line. That will not work very well on hike in shots where light weight is a big factor however.

I just compared the Sony R1 versus the Sony V3, and they seem to have identical camera noise once the electonic click is turned off. So I got the last one Camera World of Oregon had in stock......