M9 shutter button options

[adan]

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I think most P&Ss have an end-of-exposure shutter to block light during the "read" process. If you turn off the artificial shutter sound you can hear a very quiet "tick". The overall reading and resetting of the pixels in sensors is far more complicated than just turning the sensor "on and off", even with a purely electronic shutter.

 

Even film Leica Ms have had staged shutter releases ever since metering was added with the M6. First slight pressure turns on meter, more pressure (in the M7) locks auto-exposure, final pressure fires shutter.

 

As someone who started with an M4-2, (and noticed the difference when I switched to M6s) I appreciate the idea of the button doing nothing but releasing the shutter, but once metering is involved, one either needs a separate meter on-off switch, or a staged shutter button.

 

The M9 solution is very nice, in that it gives different users different ways to set up the camera. I use soft or soft+discreet because the fast, light response is more important to me than AE lock - and comes very close to the feel of an unmetered M. But I think the M9 would be in serious trouble with many other users if AE-lock via the shutter button was not also an alternative.

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[tchoi]

So sounds like there's good reasons for a mechanical shutter. The other functions of the shutter release, e.g., AE lock, could be done silently. If the mechanical shutter isn't actually used for exposure timing, could it be more or less a slow curtain that primarily protects the sensor? Wouldn't have to snap open or shut, and presumably could be made quieter. But I guess it's not really a high priority item.