Which is the most silent Nikon?

brucemuir · Oct 9, 2011

Brian Legge said:
The quiet mode on the F4 is just ... slower automatic film advance, right? I haven't found the camera all that quiet...

Not sure how Nikon handles it but on a Canon I believe has something to do with mirror return/shutter recock.

It cant even remember what you need to do to get ready to shoot in quiet mode, maybe half depress the shutter?

I never use it.

Stephen Prunier · Oct 9, 2011

lxdude said:
Hmm, quick question...if part of the Atlantic falls between Connecticut and New York, does it make a sound?

Only here in Massachusetts

pentaxuser · Oct 9, 2011

Is the Nikon F100 only marginally quieter than the F5 or significantly so and if so what accounts for the difference? Thanks

pentaxuser

nikongod · Oct 9, 2011

Brian Legge said:
The quiet mode on the F4 is just ... slower automatic film advance, right? I haven't found the camera all that quiet...

Yeppo.

It winds the film & cocks the shutter a little slower than normal. Supposedly to reduce static buildup, or film breakage in super-cold conditions.

nikongod · Oct 9, 2011

If anyone cares, I fired an F2, F3, and an F4s to compare.

In the interest of fairness, I did so at arms length. I presume the OP is more concerned about someone he is shooting hearing the camera than himself hearing the camera.

As an aside, my F4 is quieter than my Leica M6. I have no problems convincing people Im not a reporter (Im not) with the M6. When I was 18 everyone thought I was a reporter with the F4.

cmo said:
Pumalite said:

cmo said:

I like the answers And I will try an F4.

Click to expand...

Thats an adventure from which; you won't recover

Click to expand...

Why that?

JMHO, but the F4 is the "most camera feeling" fully automatic camera ever made. Its a hard thing to explain.

Convince a someone who has only ever shot an F or F2 to pick one up, and half the time you will have to fight him for it back. Give him an N80, N90, F100, F5/6 etc and he might throw it at you out of frustration. ANYONE who can shoot a full-manual camera (or full auto people) can figure out how to use an F4. It works EXACTLY like an F2 in full manual mode, and never gives the user the dreaded "which buttons do I need to hold while turning which dial" fright. Everything works exactly how one would expect it to work.

My only gripe with the F4 is that the program modes dont offer the ability to change Fstop/shutter speed like some newer cameras do. you know, dial through every automatically offered Fstop/shutter combo with the flick of a wheel...

Someonenameddavid · Oct 9, 2011

There was the Nikon F2H which had a fixed pellicle mirror (stolen from canon) which should have been the quietest in manual advance mode... Good luck finding one.

David

DBP · Oct 9, 2011

The Nikonos IV and V are almost silent. Not sure about the I-III.

cmo · Oct 10, 2011

nikongod said:
As an aside, my F4 is quieter than my Leica M6.

Seriously? :confused:

dreamingartemis · Oct 10, 2011

Honestly, any nikon that doesn't need a mirror will always be quieter than anything with a mirror. And with that being said, I've used the Nikon F4's silent mode and from my understanding, anything before F3 is less noisy than an F4

F/1.4 · Oct 10, 2011

BobD said:
The F4 has a "quiet mode"

Selidor said:
My old F5 told me it had a quiet mode.

It lied.

I bet they're about as quiet as a shotgun going off during a church service

ooze · Oct 10, 2011

The F4 may have a silent mode, but it's such a distinct sound sequence that you get noticed even more. The F4 shutter and mirror noise is indeed rather suppressed but put some film in the camera and hence add the noise of the film advance and it gets a bit more noisy than an M6. Still, an F4 is quieter than F2, F3, FM2/3, F90x cameras.

cmo · Oct 10, 2011

Either nikongod's M6 is the loudest Leica ever or there is a hidden 'shut up' setting in the F4.

I am getting confused and need to try that by myself. BTW, I don't think that a Leica M6 is really silent. A Yashica 35cc is silent.

ruilourosa · Oct 10, 2011

All my cameras are quite quiet, but they all tend to do some noise when taking pictures with them...

Rol_Lei Nut · Oct 10, 2011

Leaf shutters are generally very quiet, but AFAIK Nikon never made any cameras using them.

Cloth focal plane shutters *tend* to be quieter than metal ones, but that also isn't really a Nikon speciality.

Anyway, it's probably not just the sound volume which makes a camera noticable, but also its frequency, complexity and duration.

nikongod · Oct 10, 2011

cmo said:
Seriously? :confused:

Yes, 100%

Its possible that I have the worlds loudest Leica. Its still quieter than my Voigtlander Bessa-R though.

ooze said:
The F4 may have a silent mode, but it's such a distinct sound sequence that you get noticed even more.

I think its just the presence of the F4. It gets noticed the second it comes out of the bag. If a Ferrari were absolutely silent, it would still turn heads. Maybe not quite as many as it does blasting down the street with the exhaust growling but still.

As an aside, a friend in the local camera club just got an F4s, and loves it. He brought it to a meet, and the instant he took it out of the bag and out of nowhere there was a crowd. Its a weird camera, the F4.

I still think its pretty quiet, but its never discrete.

darinwc · Oct 10, 2011

First off, all SLR's are pretty loud. You cannot compare a focal-plane shutter and a swinging mirror with a leaf shutter. Add a motor-drive and there is no way you can be in stealth mode.

I think Nikon was more interested in making robust, reliable, high-performance machines than quiet machines. My OM2 is quieter than my FE2, but the FE2 has a faster top shutter speed and sync speed. And the FE2 is pretty darn quiet.

MattKing · Oct 10, 2011

nikongod said:
I think its just the presence of the F4. It gets noticed the second it comes out of the bag. If a Ferrari were absolutely silent, it would still turn heads. Maybe not quite as many as it does blasting down the street with the exhaust growling but still.

If you are carrying around a Ferrari in your camera bag, you really need to think about downsizing!

Jerevan · Oct 10, 2011

Any blimped Nikon would probaböy be the most silent SLR. Although not the least visible.

nikongod · Oct 10, 2011

MattKing said:
If you are carrying around a Ferrari in your camera bag, you really need to think about downsizing!

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1011/10112605h4dferrarishipping.asp
Dead Link Removed

fstop · Oct 11, 2011

I was waiting for someone to post that.

guitstik · Oct 11, 2011

CAMERA PORN!!!!

tony lockerbie · Oct 11, 2011

Typical Apug thread, starts out serious and ends up with porn! Agree that the FM2 is probably the quietest, no motor drive you see. If you really want stealth in a Nikon, then the Nikonos 11 or 111 are the quietest cameras ever made.

DBP · Oct 12, 2011

tony lockerbie said:
Typical Apug thread, starts out serious and ends up with porn! Agree that the FM2 is probably the quietest, no motor drive you see. If you really want stealth in a Nikon, then the Nikonos 11 or 111 are the quietest cameras ever made.

Or at least the quietest with shutters. Pinhole cameras are even quieter.

semi-ambivalent · Oct 12, 2011

DBP said:
Pinhole cameras are even quieter.

And they have continuously variable shutter speeds, like the F2...

s-a

MDR · Oct 12, 2011

A well maintained Nikon FA is pretty quiet at least quieter than my Nikon F, Nikkormat FTN & EL

Dominik

Which is the most silent Nikon?

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