Equipment

The Shutter Sounds of Our Most Popular Cameras Part 2

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Published December 13, 2019
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Camera Shutter ASMR

A few months ago, while testing out audio equipment for our now released podcast (available on iTunes, Youtube, and Spotify), we decided to take some of our most popular cameras into our sound booth, and give them the ASMR treatment. For those unacquainted, ASMR refers to autonomous sensory meridian response, or the tingling sensation that will sometimes happen on your scalp and the hairs on your neck when hearing a particularly satisfying sound. Our first run down this rabbit hole resulted in a pretty popular article and video highlighting various camera shutter sounds, and a comment section asking for their favorite cameras to be recorded and highlighted.

 

So we figured, “why not?” and have put together the second installment of camera shutter sounds for you to listen to. In the video above, we recorded 11 more cameras from your requests, and below I’ll talk a little bit about some of our favorites, and our least favorites.

Least Favorite

Panasonic G9

While the machinegunning speeds of the Panasonic G9 sounds excellent, the shutter sound is pretty bland in comparison to the rest. In particular, though, the silent mode isn’t, in fact, silent (though I suspect adding a lens would dampen the sound further) and sounds like a moth flapping its wings against my Nest camera at 2 in the morning.

Nikon Z6/Z7

The quiet, dull thud of both the Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 isn’t a bad sound, per se, they’re just not particularly interesting.  While I usually would expect to get beat up in the comments for complaining that a shutter sound is uninteresting, that is sort of the topic that we’re approaching with this piece.

Most Favorite

Nikon Df

The 35mm film aesthetics of the Nikon Df translates beautifully into the shutter sound of the camera. The audible click takes up back to a sound similar to the spinning of spools from the 35mm era.

Fujifilm GFX 50R

The hefty clunk of the shutter blades sounds absolutely great on the Fujifilm GFX 50R. Even though it is a mirrorless system, and generally quieter than a DSLR, there is still a mechanical sounding style to the GFX systems, as the shutter crosses the medium format sensor plane.

 

So what do you think? Any particular camera that you think we missed and has an interesting and unique shutter sound? Cause we’re not afraid to milk this simple series into a part 3. Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to read up on our first installment if you haven’t already.

 

Author: Lensrentals

Articles written by the entire editorial and technical staff at LensRentals.com. These articles are for when there is more than one author for the entire post, and are written as a community effort.

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  • X-H1 (when new) mechanical shutter is almost completely silent. Z6 mechanical shutter is very quiet. Sony A7 III makes a horrid clack, making street photography in pedestrian zones almost impossible: there’s no way to take a discreet picture.

  • PhilK

    I thought it was just about the worst of all. ?

  • PhilK

    I was wondering about that. I had to raise the audio level here compared to the first series they did.

  • PhilK

    Don’t forget any mirrorless will be nearly silent in electronic shutter mode. Have to make sure that wasn’t engaged on the Fuji and not on the others.

  • PhilK

    These opinions are hilarious. The ones you found the best, I found the worst. ?

    For example, I thought the Nikon Df was horrible .. and I’m a Nikon guy. I also can’t understand why the Df has this major noise like 1/4 of a second after the initial sound. It’s almost as if it’s the shutter closing at the end of a 1/4 to 1/2 sec exposure or something.

    The GFX also has a quieter sort of “re-cock” sound like 1/4s after the initial one. (Mechanical 2nd curtain closing after exposure ended with electronic 2nd curtain??) Which might barely be audible with a lens attached.

    Which leads me to point out that no one shoots cameras with no lens attached so actually none of these cameras will actually sound like this in actual use. 😛

    My votes for other entrants: Nikon D5, Canon 1Dx II, Leica S2, some Hasselblad and Mamiya.

  • shanebettsphoto

    DSLR’s just ain’t the same as old, clockwork, film SLR’s. The original Olympus OM-1 had the most beautiful shutter sound.

  • Athanasius Kirchner

    You guys are using automatic audio gain, aren’t you? In rea life the 7DII sounds much louder than the X-H1 or G9, from my experience with all three.

  • Stanislaw Zolczynski

    I have seen somewhere on net sound comparison between Nikon Z, Canon r and Fuji X-H1, fired on continous. Comparing to other two, Fuji was almoust inaudible.

  • That DF really sounds so nice.

  • It sounds pointless to talk about nice shutter sounds, but the guy who bought both my old 6Ds off Craigslist said he chose them because they had nice shutter sounds. I for one am grateful.

  • bdbender4

    must be a mighty slow news day…

  • Ben Langlotz ?????

    I’m happy to have switched from the (wonderful) Z6 to Canon RP, but the RP shutter sound is a cheap snappy sound that is as irritating as fingernails on the chalkboard.

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