RE: [Leica] Is the issue of camera noise over-rated? - Talk among st yourselves...:-)

[Peterson Arthur G NSSC <PetersonAG@NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL>]

		Good points, I think, B.D.!

		Art Peterson
		Alexandria, Virginia


		-----Original Message-----
		From:	bdcolen [mailto:bdcolen@earthlink.net]
		Sent:	Tuesday, January 28, 2003 10:40 AM
		To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
		Subject:	[Leica] Is the issue of camera noise
over-rated? - Talk amongst yourselves...:-)

		On another Leica list, during a discussion of what camera
outfit someone
		have, a responder made the following comment...

		"The one thing I might add to my bag is an
M-somethingorother to use in 
		situations where near absolute silence is required (and in
this 
		regard, nothing but an M fills the bill in terms of 
		interchangeable-lens cameras thus far)."

		To which I responded:

		"We got talking about the subject of camera noise, quiet,
etc., last
		night in the final session of the four-week documentary
photo course I
		just finished teaching. And in talking this through I came
to a
		startling realization - we tend to grossly over-rate the
need for
		"silence." 

		Yes, the unobtrusiveness of the Ms is great. But first off,
they are not
		nearly as silent as we think they are. Yes, if there is any
kind of
		background noise, the "click" disappears - but so does the
whine of a
		single SLR. On the other hand, in a place like a church,
when there is
		silence or near silence, the click of an M can sound like
the report of
		a rifle - not that anyone cares. And THAT's the really
important thing
		to consider: ' The person who is most aware of the noise
generated by a
		camera is the photographer, who has the camera jammed in his
ear. Most
		people being photographed hear the noise as long as they are
paying
		attention to the fact that they are being photographed, and
then they
		ignore it, and probably cease to hear it. When I'm shooting
on a job, I
		use both Ms and Nikon F100s, which are relatively quiet, but
hardly
		M-like, SLRS. And I get no more reaction from subjects when
I'm using
		the motor-driven reflex than I do when I use the M. I may be
more
		comfortable with the M, but it's no big deal to the subject.

		If you don't believe this, consider for a moment that a
documentary
		photographer like Eugene Richards, who has shot crack
addicts, and been
		in potentially life-threatening situations, uses Olympus
OM3s and Canon
		F1s - both really "clacky" SLRs, which he shoves to within
inches of his
		subjects faces. James Nacthwey uses Canon EOSes, and again,
works close
		and does so in hairy situations.

		Sure, it's nice to have a quite camera. But we seem to
forget to
		important things:

		First, cameras, and the noise they generate, is ubiquitous -
everyone
		owns a P&S and they all make noise; those noises are part of
the
		background music of all important life occasions, as, for
that matter,
		are flashes going off;

		Second, what is really important is the way the photographer
works, the
		way he or she relates to the subject, and not the decibel
level of the
		camera."

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