Question about M8 shutter cocking

[robertwright]

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Does the M8 cock the shutter immediately after releasing it in single frame mode? The reason I ask is the noise it contributes-my old and loved Canon F1 had a feature where if you kept your finger depressed on the shutter the camera would not advance, which was handy in a sensitive situation (for a much noisier camera). You would shoot, keep the shutter depressed, and could choose a later moment to release and have the winder wind on. A small thing, but useful.

 

While I know that the M8 is quieter, I was wondering if it behaved in this manner, or if the cocking happened regardless of whether or not you kept the shutter depressed.

 

Would M8 owners find this a useful modification of the behaviour of the camera, or is it moot?

 

Perhaps a firmware revision could enable this behaviour....oh the sacred firmware...

[adan]

Nope - the M8 winds as soon as the shutter closes, even if you maintain pressure on the shutter button. There was an early video from France that SEEMED to show the wind only occurring after the shooter lifted his finger off the button - but it turned out he had the camera set to B(ulb) - so lifting his finger was just ending the exposure (and allowing immediate cocking) rather than delaying the cocking as you describe.

 

I'm not sure this can be addressed in a firmware upgrade - it may be hardwired into the shutter/release circuitry (which comes from the R9 SLR).

 

I like the idea - if there is a way to do it without a major rebuild.

[carstenw]

I don't have my M8 here at the moment, but it was my impression that the majority of the sound was actually from the shutter, and that the winding was relatively silent afterwards. I do think that there might be a difference to the way it sounds from behind and in front of the camera, after I passed it to a friend and heard it from in front. Since I can't check this right now, I am not certain. Try it.

[larry]

Robert,

 

Go to this page on dpreview and then scroll to the bottom to download a file that compares the sound of an M7 and an M8: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/leicam8/page5.asp

 

I hope this helps.

 

Larry

[robertwright]

Yeah I had heard the comparision before, I went back to it. It's probably not a big problem, the characteristic of the sound is certainly longer in duration than the M7, but similar to my M6 at 1/8th for example, the tailing end of it. The benefit of the M8 is that on long exposures it is silent between curtains, whereas the mechanical M's all have that buzzing between. This was something I noticed from my mamiya 7, except that it's shutter is very metallic sounding and higher pitched.

 

I have a 10d and that is a very quiet camera, all the plastic shutter parts make it that way. but the pitch is higher and easier to hear, the M's have a low pitch and that helps it blend. I think we all hear the camera next to our ears and think that is what it is, but out in "the wild" so to speak, hearing someone else photograph is very different.