Cheap silent camera

freefeet · #1 (**permalink**) 19-10-2009, 10:26 PM

Anyone know a silent camera at a reasonable price?

I'm not interested in it shooting the best high quality pics, just want something that i can take a reasonable pic of a deer (and other wildlife) close in and not have it running away due to zooming, focusing or shutter noise.

Thanks

Stan

agrumpycow · #2 (**permalink**) 19-10-2009, 10:56 PM

Sorry can't help with an actual model but most digital cameras I've known give you the ability to turn off the shutter noise.
What price were you thinking of paying?

eeyore · #3 (**permalink**) 19-10-2009, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

Sorry can't help with an actual model but most digital cameras I've known give you the ability to turn off the shutter noise.
What price were you thinking of paying?

that only appiles to the compacts with simulated shutter noise - however most DSLRs also give you the option of locking the mirror up to reduce the shutter noise.

The quietest shutter SLR ive come accros is the Canon eos 5 (the film camera not the 5D ) ive got a couple of these picked up second hand for a song for use with remote activation up close

DavyG · #4 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 07:23 AM

The quietest DSLR I've heard is the Olympus E1, it is very quiet.

The images this camera can produce are excellent and being an older model, there are some bargains to be had, if you can find someone willing to part with one.

Dave

freefeet · #5 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 09:52 AM

Thanks for your replies.

I already have a Fujifilm Finepix S602zoom but find that too big to be lugging around and by the time i turn it on and it winds all its bits up, focuses and zooms any animal would be over the next hill with the noise it makes. So i was more in the idea of a nice little compact that i can just pull out of my pocket, switch on and shoot with without making any noise at all if that's possible.

eeyore · #6 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freefeet

Thanks for your replies.

So i was more in the idea of a nice little compact that i can just pull out of my pocket, switch on and shoot with without making any noise at all if that's possible.

The Fuji F10 isnt bad for that - you cant get them new anymore but they are arround second hand 6mp, 3x optical zoom and a high endurance battery good for over a thousand shots on one charge. assuming you turn the bleeps off in the menu its pretty much silent

if you cant find a second hand one (there was one on amazon for 84 notes yesterday) the F11 which is its sucessor is still available new and is equally good

freefeet · #7 (**permalink**) 21-10-2009, 11:37 AM

Thanks eeyore.

I just went to my local camera shop. They didn't have an F11 but they showed me an F70EXR. Then i had the guy get out all the compacts that had at least a 10x zoom and tried them all for noise and the F70 was the winner by far. After the s602z i'm amazed at how quiet this camera is.

They also had an 8x10 print that they'd done of a picture taken of the estuary with this camera and it was incredible quality, detail, light, colours, to say the least.

Kind of amazing how far cameras have come since i bought the 602.

Anyway, i'm now looking forward to taking lots of great pics. It'll be so nice to be able to carry this everywhere with me as it's so tiny and takes up no real space, whereas the 602 was huge and heavy and unless i was specifically going out to take pics i just left it at home.

Thanks again for your help.