DSLR Shutter Noise

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M

Marko

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Hi there, what are the forums views on the extent that a loud shutter is a major disadvantage for photographing wildlife in Costa Rica? Was wondering this or do the wildlife basically ignore this? Have seen so many Costa Rica photos taken with DSLRs so is it such a problem?
 
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Not specifically to Costa Rica but on a general level:

Depends on who you are asking...

If it's somebody who just moved to mirrorless, you'll hear that the shutter noise of DSLR is the worst thing to happen to photography ever...

If you ask somebody who still shoots only DSLRs, you'll hear that the noise is a non-issue.

My experience (both DSLR and mirrorless shooter) has been that there are certain situations (e.g: roe deer) where the shutter noise will alert an animal to your presence and spook them but most of the time (e.g: birds, who usually are aware of you long before you start shooting) it's impact is minimal... i lost more shots due to moving too soon/too fast or due to a moore hen spooking everything around than to shooting my D500/D810...
 
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For the many years I used a film SLR I never thought about the shutter noise, it was just part of photography, it didn't seem to bother most wildlife, but there certainly were exceptions. As soon as I went to mirrorless the silence was very pleasing to me. Now I always use electronic shutter, the only exception being when I'm using a camera that doesn't permit taking flash photos with the electronic shutter. I now find it very annoying to be near someone taking a burst of photos with a DSLR -- guess I'm just a grumpy old man.
 
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My wife and I went on an African wildlife safari with a friend and his wife in 2019. At one time we came upon a couple of male giraffes fighting by slamming their heads into each other, as giraffes do to determine who's the alpha. I had my Nikon D7500 on burst mode and was happily firing away to capture the sequence. Unknown to me, my friend was shooting video of this on his DSLR. We still watch the video occasionally, and the constant machine-gunning sound of my shutter ruins the video in my opinion.

I have only one or twice experienced a case where animals became alert when they heard my shutter sound, but they have never bolted as a result. I have had the occasional case where a hawk would take off at the first sound of a shutter. Having a shutterless Z8 now, shutter noise is one less thing to worry about.

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Having shot wildlife for over 40 years using SLR, DSLR and now Mirrorless my take on it is your movement, scent, and noises you make are far more likely to spook wildlife than the shutter click. Just the act of bringing a camera to your eye will spook a lot of wildlife including birds. Can the shutter sound spook wildlife? Under the right conditions sure. I'm only saying our presence in the wild with them is more likely to spook them. A car door closing, a sudden movement, stepping on a stick and causing a snap sound, for mammals, our scent because wind is at our back etc are all likely to spook critters. Over eons they have evolved to be weary of sounds predators or potential predators make. Anything we do that makes us look like a predator or sound like a predator is going to spook them.
With all that said, I do like the quietness of mirrorless but over 40 years of being in the field with my cameras, I bet I could count on both hands the number of times the sound of my camera shutter actually cost me a great shot.

Hope this helps. It can be a controversial topic and everyone has their own opinions and personal experiences. Yours may differ greatly from mine.
 
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Without casting aspersions on those whose experience differs from mine, I've found that when photographing small birds from a blind, generally at or near MFD, the shutter noise spooks the bird and I get one exposure before the bird flees. It happened numerous times both at my home blind at the birdbath and with small shorebirds at the nearby wetland. With larger subjects at greater distance it's been a non-issue.

Silent mode with a mirrorless camera means one less thing to spook the subject or distract me from the subject and the composition of the photograph. Unless you're working at close range probably not something to worry about.
 
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One addition to my above post, the silent shutter comes in handy when my wife is shooting video while I'm shooting stills. No clack clack clack of the shutter to edit out later.
 
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In my experience with dslrs, the shutter sound might attract attention but wasn't more likely to scare them off than me moving/making sounds/etc. That said, I like not having a shutter because I can relax and enjoy the sounds of nature instead of more artificial noises (in part because I like going out to get away from modern life and just enjoy taking pictures of nature).
 
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I've seen turkeys and deer cross a shooting range during live fire without so much as a flinch. If you shoot one you are banned for life so the critters all passed safely but they are not the intimidated one bit. These are not tame critters, they will not let you approach but gunfire no problem.
 
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Steve said:
It depends on the subject. The truth is, in Costa Rica, most of the animals people tend to photograph are so habituated that you can bang pots and pans together and they still won't favor you with as much as a glance - much less scurry off.
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Thanks Steve, that is good to know as I will be going there soon and was thinking if upgrading to a Z9 would be worth it over before the trip over my D850 and D5?
 
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What is certain: a silent shutter will never spook any animal, and there may be situations depending on the subject, location, habituation and the photographer's working habits where there will be a risk of a mechanical shutter causing the animal to react.
 
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In my experience with many birds here in Australia, most of the time the DSLR shutter sound can actually help as the bird will look at you when you start firing the shutter for a burst and thus get some interaction and eye contact. The D850 was particularly loud whereas the D500 was a bit quieter but I rarely had issues with either of them most of the time. Sometimes you might get a flee reaction from the bird, but mostly they just tended to look at where the noise was coming form and thus you can get that interaction and eye contact. In short, I rarely found it a problem, but when it was a problem, you could turn it to silent mode but that was never a good option for burst shooting etc.

With my Z8 and Z9, they are much quieter even with the shutter volume turned up however, I have it set at level 2 as I hope to get their attention but not scare them off. The trouble is, if I am using the 800, I am further away and thus the sound is probably lower by the time it gets to the bird and I find it more difficult to get the interaction with the bird. If I am using the 100-400 or 500 the interaction is a little easier. The beauty of a ML camera is that you have the best of both worlds - completely silent shooting or a sound that may get some interaction.
 
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I think this will be a regularly debated topic over the coming years. Having shot DSLRs since their inception, I never had an issue with shutter noise. 2 years down the line of going totally mirrorless, the DSLRs do sound louds in a confined space. I for one would not make an issue with folks using older, noisier equipment but some will:(
 
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