Choose quiet or silent photography where camera noise might be a distraction, for example at stage performances, during interviews, or when photographing wildlife.
The differences between quiet shutter release and silent photography are summarized in the following table.
| Quiet shutter release |
Silent photography | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mode 1 | Mode 2 | ||
| Framing | Viewfinder | Live view | |
| Flash | Available | Not available | |
| Shutter release | Quiet | Silent | |
| Frame advance rate | QC: Approx. 3 fps |
CL: 3 fps1 CH: 6 fps |
QC/CL: 15 fps2 CH: 30 fps2 |
| Image area | All | All | DX (24 × 16)3 |
| Rolling shutter effect? | No | Yes | Some |
| Suggested for | Ballet, orchestras | Weddings, astronomy, landscapes | Birds, wildlife |
Click here for the image optimized for small screens. (JPG 109KB).
If quiet shutter-release mode is selected for viewfinder photography, the mirror stays up while the shutter-release button is pressed all the way down. The mirror is lowered (more quietly than in single-frame mode) only when the shutter-release button returns to the halfway position, allowing you to control the timing of the click made by the mirror.
To choose quiet shutter-release mode, press the release mode dial lock release and rotate the dial to Q. Note that this mode is associated with a certain amount of shutter lag.
For quiet burst photography with a frame rate of about 3 fps, rotate the release mode dial to Qc (quiet continuous).
In silent photography, the shutter remains open between shots, eliminating shutter noise altogether during live view.
To enable silent photography, press the button during live view and select On (Mode 1) or On (Mode 2) for Silent live view photography.
On (Mode 1): Reduce vibrations caused by the shutter when shooting landscapes and other static subjects. ISO sensitivity can be set to values of from Lo 1 to 25600.
On (Mode 2): As for On (Mode 1) except that photos can be taken at a higher rate.
When silent photography is in effect, the mirror will only be audible when it is raised and lowered at the start and end of live view. Note that during burst photography, focus and exposure are fixed at the values in effect at the start of each burst.
Even when silent photography is in effect, the sound of the camera focusing may still be audible in autofocus mode and the sound of the aperture mechanism will still be audible when you adjust aperture in modes A and M or the camera adjusts aperture in modes P and S.
Another way to reduce camera noise is to film movies silently and later make JPEG stills using Save current frame.
1 Pause playback on the desired frame.
Press to pause playback and then press or to display the desired frame.
2 Choose Save current frame.
Press or , then highlight Save current frame and press to create a JPEG copy of the current frame.
Movie stills are recorded at the dimensions selected for Frame size/frame rate in the movie shooting menu. If two memory cards are inserted, the still will be saved to the card chosen using Primary slot selection in the photo shooting menu.
JPEG movie stills created with the Save current frame option cannot be retouched and lack some categories of photo information.
