MS> How quite is the Leica *exactly*? Are we talking fox in carpet slippers
MS> here?
Not that exactly, in my opinion.
It's "noticeably" <g> quieter than the MX or ME Super. That said, I
had both MX and MES and I liked the sound of MX more. YMMV, as both
have a different "feel" to the shutter sound.
With a wide lens and good DOF, you can prefire the MX's mirror (the
main cause of the sound) and click the shutter a bit later (composing
without the viewfinder) for about same quietness as the Leica.
The quietest are usually the digitals, EVF and beamsplitter "SLR" like Olympus
E-10. They have no sound at all (if you turn off the recorded
"shutter" sound many of them have). Of course, the digital noise is
awful at low levels where you usually need a quiet shutter and their
viewfinder is ugliest seen in both.
Or a good central shutter camera, like some of the fixed lens
rangefinders from Canon and others. Mind you, not all of them are
quiet. Most Olympus models (e.g. Oly 35 SP) have a *loud* high-pitched
metallic clunk caused by the shutter release lever, which is actually
noisier than a SLR (I know I owned the Oly). TLRs with central
shutters are almost absolutely quiet as well. Although their film
advance is noisier, with all that big 120 film and gears moving it.
One modern camera with absolutely quiet shutter is the Konica Hexar
AF, in its silent mode you almost can't hear it even close to your
eye, and your subject won't hear it at all. It's an amazing camera,
although with some quirks like strange ergonomics (push buttons, some settings
reset after power off), very narrow spot - but usually reliable - AF,
and a 2/35mm lens that is on par with Leitz Summicron. Discontinued
and hard to find. It's the ultimate camera for 35mm film and quiet
operation.
The Leica M7 and possibly Minolta CLE (both Leica M mount) are the
quietest of the leicas due to their electronic controlled shutter at
shutter speeds longer than X-synch (because mechanical shutters have
noisier gear trains to time the shutter travel), with the M7 you just
hear a faint click of the opening and faint click of the closing
curtains, with M6 you hear a (faint!) trzz of the gear train.
That said, I have had subjects noticing me taking a photo with the
Leica M4p I have, but only rarely.
With most people, the main thing is not a no-sound-at-all shutter
(like the one in the Hexar AF), but photographer's attitude - if you
are at ease, strike a conversation and are natural about
photographing, and employ few other techniques, they will quickly
forget you are still photographing them even if they noticed at first.
*relaxed*.
Good light!
fra
