On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 04:29:09 -0600, Don Sanderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The ist-D sound has been compared to a "Hamster Sneeze", > that's about right, very quiet. > If you want quiet on the cheap the ME Super is one of the > quietest Manual Focus, Manual Wind bodies Pentax ever made. > It has pneumatic mirror damping and a very solid body to > further dampen sound. > > I'm not sure why you mention plastic, light plastic bodies > have a tendency to increase noise because they don't dampen > sound nearly as well as cast metal. > > A very good ME Super can be had for $50-$100, a CLA, which > is nearly always needed on a vintage camera, runs another > $50-$100. > You wind up with a very quiet, very capable camera. > The only thing much quieter in a film body would be a range- > finder. > > BTW: The ME Super has a much, much, much better viewfider > than the MZ/ZX-M. One of the very best in fact. > This is a big plus in low lighting conditions such as you > describe. > > Don >
Interesting. My old (now expired) MV was certainly the quietest SLR I've even owned. I would even go so far as saying it had a real "quality" sound to it. Did it have the same shutter as the ME, I wonder? Of my mechanical Pentaxes, the MX is relatively quiet. My LX, in comparision is like an elephant in high heels walking down a deserted hallway with no carpet (that is to say, LOUD). My Leica CL is pretty damned quiet, much more so that any SLR. But, my quiet champ among 35mm is my Yashica Electro 35. That leaf shutter barely makes a whisper. Even quieter is my Yashica Mat, but maybe that's because the body's farther from my ear when I shoot. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
