carstenw Posted October 17, 2009 Share #1 Posted October 17, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I was at my Leica pusher yesterday, and placed myself of the waiting list. I will likely get mine around middle- or late-December. While there, I played with the demo M9, and I noticed right away that the shutter was much louder than that of my M8u. Testing a little, it seems that the shutter noise of the M9 is about halfway between the original M8 and my M8u. Even the M8.2 in the store was somewhat louder than my M8u. I wonder if I just got lucky, or if there is a pattern here. What do M8u/M8.2 owners who upgraded to or added an M9 think about this? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 Hi carstenw, Take a look here Leica M9 Shutter Noise. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jonoslack Posted October 17, 2009 Share #2 Posted October 17, 2009 I was at my Leica pusher yesterday, and placed myself of the waiting list. I will likely get mine around middle- or late-December. While there, I played with the demo M9, and I noticed right away that the shutter was much louder than that of my M8u. Testing a little, it seems that the shutter noise of the M9 is about halfway between the original M8 and my M8u. Even the M8.2 in the store was somewhat louder than my M8u. I wonder if I just got lucky, or if there is a pattern here. What do M8u/M8.2 owners who upgraded to or added an M9 think about this? HI Carsten One of my M8us was quieter than the other one, and the M9 fell somewhere in between. I think there is quite a lot of variation in the noise of the shutters (I'd rather not think about why ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookchang Posted October 17, 2009 Share #3 Posted October 17, 2009 My M9 was quieter than my M8u. (My M9 was returned to the dealer for column defect. I don't know when I will get it back.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
canlogic Posted October 17, 2009 Share #4 Posted October 17, 2009 My M9 is definitely quieter than my M8u. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_nyus Posted October 17, 2009 Share #5 Posted October 17, 2009 My M8u was slightly quieter than my M9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted October 17, 2009 Share #6 Posted October 17, 2009 One of the thing's I was really sad about selling the M8u was the shutter sound - sweeter and quieter than my M8.2 and my M9. Odd... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted October 17, 2009 Share #7 Posted October 17, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) My M8u is much quieter than the M9. However I used an M8 the other day and I nearly dropped it with surprise, I was so startled as to how loud it was, much louder than the M8u or M9 and I could feel the vibration. To my ears the M9 shutter appears to have two distinct clicks at the beginning and sounds different to the M8u. I really miss the smoothness/quietness of the M8u in the M9. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share #8 Posted October 17, 2009 Yes, my feeling exactly. The weird click-CLACK of the M9 threw me a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rondeb Posted October 18, 2009 Share #9 Posted October 18, 2009 Yes, my feeling exactly. The weird click-CLACK of the M9 threw me a bit. Yep. I'm hoping this is addressed in a firmware update. I've posted extensively about the seeming shutter lag and difference in sound. click Clack is a good description. -Ron Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted October 18, 2009 I am pretty sure that there isn't an actual lag, but it definitely sounds that way. I guess the dpreview will have proper timings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted October 18, 2009 Share #11 Posted October 18, 2009 I am pretty sure that there isn't an actual lag, There was a longer discussion of this recently and I think someone at Leica confirmed that there is an extra 20ms shutter lag with the M9 compared with the M8. For my money, I feel that any extra lag is more than compensated by the new 'soft' mode which makes the camera seem much more like the M6 bodies I used to shoot. As far as the noise goes, I'm coming from an M8 only background and I can't say I'm overwhelmed by the reduction in sound that I get with the M9 shutter and motor. I haven't made direct comparisons but it still sounds to me much more intrusive than what I used to get from the combination of sounds made with a film M shutter and manual advance. Still, it is slightly quieter than the M8 and I've managed fine with that for the last three years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted October 18, 2009 Okay, 20ms is 1/50th of a second, so I am not surprised I didn't detect that That would seem to be quite acceptable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coup de foudre Posted October 18, 2009 Share #13 Posted October 18, 2009 okay... this is a thread i am definitely following. the noise of the shutter makes a huge difference to me! i only have a classic M8 and have decided it seriously must have been one of the loudest ever made. whilst saving up for the shutter upgrade, the M9 was announced, so i can only think that that will be throwing a huge chunk of change away... i noticed different friend's M8.2 had different shutter volumes (like i said, this is important to me) and was intrigued when i got to test out an M9 in the store. it seemed a step backward in that regard, even with Soft Release... but it was only a quick play so i'm fascinated to see everybody's take on it and if there are as many variants with the M9 as the M8.2 seemed to have. please indulge me. i'd really love to hear more people's take on this matter. thank you, cam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dng88 Posted October 18, 2009 Share #14 Posted October 18, 2009 okay... this is a thread i am definitely following. the noise of the shutter makes a huge difference to me! i only have a classic M8 and have decided it seriously must have been one of the loudest ever made. whilst saving up for the shutter upgrade, the M9 was announced, so i can only think that that will be throwing a huge chunk of change away... i noticed different friend's M8.2 had different shutter volumes (like i said, this is important to me) and was intrigued when i got to test out an M9 in the store. it seemed a step backward in that regard, even with Soft Release... but it was only a quick play so i'm fascinated to see everybody's take on it and if there are as many variants with the M9 as the M8.2 seemed to have. please indulge me. i'd really love to hear more people's take on this matter. thank you, cam I am the same. In fact, I have tested four demo Leica M9 in Hong Kong and I do have the urge to get one due to no (or not much) reduction. I even ask the guy to click both my M8 and the new M9. It really did not sound that different. M3 is so ... Well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted October 18, 2009 Share #15 Posted October 18, 2009 I have several ways of viewing the shutter sound. There is no way the M8 or M9 will ever be as silent as any film M, simply because of the different materials in the shutter to start with, before any other factors come into play, which they do. They will never be true stealth cameras, just discreet cameras. If you accept that, then you have a fair handle on where it is at. Earlier this week, I was shooting my M9 in a museum where photography was specifically banned. I had it attached to my belt under a jacket in my StreetShooter. I shot a reasonable amount from that position using zone focussing and facing where I wanted to shoot. The sound of exposure attracted no attention from many people standing very close to me. However, had I raised the camera (or any camera) to my eye, That would definitely have attracted attention. I think sometimes we focus on the wrong factor when assessing stealth, but of course it will always be different in different situations. I can however, say that I would not have attempted the same stunt with the M8 (original model) as I believe it would have been heard. There is a definite improvement in the M9, but I can't imaging it getting any better without a total shutter re-design. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coup de foudre Posted October 18, 2009 Share #16 Posted October 18, 2009 Erl, i understand it will never be as quiet as a film M. i also understand that raising the camera to the eye is not stealthy in the least... most of the time, i honestly do not hide the fact that i am shooting. i like to shoot wide open, so raising it to the eye is a must (though, amusingly, i have gotten pretty damned good at guestimating when i've just wanted to play around -- probably because i expect nothing at f/1 or f/1.4). however, even though i am not hiding the fact that i am shooting, it bothers me that even in Discreet, people can hear me on certain metros... they will accept and get bored by me playing with the camera, but the THWACK brings them back to earth. i am not asking for stealth -- i simply want a little more discretion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
@bumac Posted October 18, 2009 Share #17 Posted October 18, 2009 Don't worry, the M9u will be quieter than the M9. Next year you can upgrade to a new shutter with 1/2000 for only 2.000 Dollar. Saphir-glas for 1.2000 dollar. Just be pacient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roydonian Posted October 18, 2009 Share #18 Posted October 18, 2009 Earlier this week, I was shooting my M9 in a museum where photography was specifically banned... The sound of exposure attracted no attention from many people standing very close to me. I had a similar experience last week in Venice. The sound of my M8.2 shutter caused no reactions, but I took care to shield the camera under my jacket before allowing the shutter to recock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_tribble Posted October 18, 2009 Share #19 Posted October 18, 2009 please indulge me. i'd really love to hear more people's take on this matter. My experience is that if you learn to work in discreet mode with the m8.2 / M9 you can get away with a lot - it really is close to an M7 IMHO. What you have to remember though is to put the camera inside a jacket or under a bag on your lap etc to re-cock. For me, that's the noise that really get's to people. Not the shutter actuation. I've shot (quiet) jazz and chamber concerts which were being broadcast (with artists + BBC agreement I stress) working this way with no problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted October 18, 2009 Share #20 Posted October 18, 2009 The great thing about the old film M bodies is that you can re-cock the shutter as slowly as you want - almost like closing a door really slowly to avoid waking a baby. In discrete mode, you can't control the speed of the re-cock - once you let go of the shutter release, you get this almighty whirring noise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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