Do you find you need this with your daily shooting PB PM or is it something thats a nice feature to have but wouldn't be a significant reason to look for when buying a new DSLR?

My guess it is works the same as the quiet modes on the D3s, D300s, D5000 and the Canon models that have a similar feature.

Yes luckily you can turn off that horrible beep imagine if you couldn't?! I agree there are definately times when discretion is needed. I heard about the quiet mode on the D7000 as well. I wonder what its like? It looks like an excellent camera and will definately reduce D90 sales.

PB PM said:
Maybe you can check with your NEX-5? The manufactures likely created the sound to give the feedback that photographers are used to. It may not even be the shutters, but rather the noise created by the aperture blades opening and closing.

Actually, I was surprised to find out that it still has a physical shutter that closes then opens during exposure and it turns out that it's probably louder and definitely more annoying than a Nikon DSLR—it's got some high frequency stuff in there that grates on the nerves a bit instead of the solid -chunk- of an SLR. The aperture blades do not close during exposure because they are constantly at the current setting. That's kind of nice because it's a little like using a view camera with the LCD as a loupe, but only a little because you're missing the tilt/swing/shift of the view camera. (BTW, I'd love for someone to make an e-mount to f-mount bellows, but that's a topic for another forum.)

kanuck said:
Jonnyapple I know I figured thats what you meant. Does the shutter sound on DSLR even bother you really that much anyways?

It doesn't bother me, but there are times when a little more discretion is needed. For example, I've been at church ceremonies where I don't dare shoot because it's almost silent in the room. I've shot a couple of weddings where I had permission from both the officiator and the bride to be as intrusive as I wanted to be, but I think when they were actually in the ceremony they were having second thoughts while hearing the click of my camera every few seconds. They never said anything so that might have just been me being too self-conscious, but that's why I say I admire the quieter action of the rangefinders. I'm excited to see what they mean by quiet mode on the D7000.

And the focus beep is the very first thing I disable when I take the camera out of the box. ;-)

Jonnyapple I know I figured thats what you meant. Does the shutter sound on DSLR even bother you really that much anyways? The D700 sounds good I thought and its never been an issue with me. I always liked the sound of the F100 shutter for some reason actually. As far as noise the only thing that bothers me is the beeping for focus confirmation or running through the menu.

PB PM said:
There wasn't any kind of conclusion as to why they are louder, just simply showing that they were. The cameras compared were the Olympus E-P2 and Panasonic GF-1 vs a Canon 7D.

My guess is that the shutter sounds from the mirrorless cameras are artificial, since I'm assuming they use electronic shutters, rather physical shutters. Maybe you can check with your NEX-5? The manufactures likely created the sound to give the feedback that photographers are used to. It may not even be the shutters, but rather the noise created by the aperture blades opening and closing.

I would attest to that, most of the sound from the FM2 comes from the lens I put on it, the 50mm 1.2. When I stuck that on the D40, sounded like 75% of the FM2.

I shot continuous with that just for fun, and that sound is so addictive it's not even funny. :D

There wasn't any kind of conclusion as to why they are louder, just simply showing that they were. The cameras compared were the Olympus E-P2 and Panasonic GF-1 vs a Canon 7D.

My guess is that the shutter sounds from the mirrorless cameras are artificial, since I'm assuming they use electronic shutters, rather physical shutters. Maybe you can check with your NEX-5? The manufactures likely created the sound to give the feedback that photographers are used to. It may not even be the shutters, but rather the noise created by the aperture blades opening and closing.

That's interesting, Rob. Do you think it could be down to having less sound insulation or did they guess why that might be?

That's kind of ironic. I saw a recent test that showed that some of the newer mirrorless cameras have louder shutters than some DSLRs!

Kanuck, if you offered me an M9 for free, I would use it for a few days then sell it and buy a D700 and a couple of lenses. I wasn't trying to say I don't like SLRs, I just meant that I wouldn't miss how noisy they are.

Yes Nikodoby the two bodies are like apples and oranges. You can definately see the 6 extra MP even in thumbnail size. I really wanted the new D700 at 18mp, but gave up. Focusing manually is quite fast with the Leica. The overlapping images come into one very quick in the Leica viewfinder. Its more tricky in poor light of course. I process both the same first in lightroom then finished up in photoshop. I set the color in photoshop with the Leica images. Then set a white and black point in photoshop. I adjusted the shadows and highlights, fixed midtones, did a layer mask and lastly hide the mask selection. The sharpening was with a high pass filter. I ran them through nise ninja to get rid of some grain. The M9 has much more than the D700. The D700 is outstanding with noise even over ISO 2000. Wonderful camera! Remember we talked months ago about your M8 and how disappointed you were?

DaveyJ, I used the 24-70 for these shots and I could have used my 14-24mm but I was surrounded by pushy tourists so I didn't want to switch off^^ Tripods are annoying I agree, but still neccessary for detail. You should check out Kyoto I had no idea it was such a magnet for photography. You'd swear it was India or something with all the shooters there!

Jonnyapple, yes the Leicas sure do last forever. I'd like to pass mine on to my family one day if I have one. The shutter sound is addictive I know. The M9 has 4 options, I like the soft option, and haven't tried to soft and discreet mode yet. Sure the D700 is loud and clunky, but its solid and gets the job done. Wouldn't you agree? There's no way I'm dumping my D700. Nikon makes wonderful stuff :)

You might want to add how much processing you did for each of these. Comparing the same view from both would be good too. These are two very different cameras with very different characteristics. So not really a completely "fair" comparison. 12mp versus 18mp. Auto focus versus manual. Etc etc. Beautiful vistas regardless though :^)

Very nice photos of a famous and lovely spot. Do you see a different color signature of the two cameras? I almost need the same scene framed in much the same way to compare much from images i did not take. The wide Golden House photo with the M9 and the Inary shot on the D700 are really wonderful and the D700 shot of the Golden House i would also like to see wider, but when I shoot i often use one camera for wide and one camera for telephoto or normal. Unlike Heartyfisher I have not been there. I would love to visit the Kyoto Gardens some day as i even had parts of my environmental planning courses devoted to the history and development of such parks over the world but I myself have not been there and i wonder if I ever will. I feel very happy though being able to see these images and realize it would be a great place to visit!! I know of very very few people in the world who go to these wonderful places with two better cameras! And what wonderful scenes to capture with or without a tripod. Personally I very rarely now use a tripod where I can. There are ways of bracing for a handheld shot that are better even for a steady hand and sharp eye. These photos amply illustrate photography at it best! Thanks! also the notes on shutter noise and other photo buff matters weighs in for great impact.

Thanks for the review, Kanuck. My dad still had my grandpa's old leica iiif (or iiic?) and I've been meaning to borrow it to try it out. The pictures from it—mostly from the late 40s through the 60s on kodachrome—still look great. I love how quiet the leaf shutter is on it. It makes the mirror slap of an slr sound almost embarrassingly clunky. He has this cool little attachment that lets you see the approximate view without parallax based on which lens is attached.

Yes, isn't the Golden Pavillon site swarming with tourists? I couldn't believe it! I felt like taking a picture of the sign that read "Please no tripods" haha I've never seen that anywhere. Not in Egypt, Rome, Beijing, Peru or any other special photographic place. Just here! Very strange. The actual guard who was on duty (why the need for a guard is beyond me) was trying to explain what you stated I think. The legs of the tripod get in the way of the other tourists. Oh well, shooting a high shutter speeds there was no need for a tripod anyways. Thanks for the comments heartyfisher :)

Really like that Inary shot on the M9!

The colours seem a bit over saturated on the golden building shots...
When I was there it was so crowded there was no way I could use a tripod anyway!

Here are a few shots:

D700

M9

Notice the noise in the M9 at the bottom of the Golden house? Both were not on tripods because tripods are actually banned from this spot! Can you believe that? I got tapped on the shoulder by a guard. I also like the color of the D700 but I can fix that. This is one of the first pics I ever shot with the M9. I need more work.

Inari Shrine area

M9:

D700:

Different perspectives but both shot on tripods with cable releases. I could shoot with the M9 better now if I could shoot this shot again. I have practiced more with it all week.

Smarterchild, I was able to get a wonderful deal on a Leica 90mm 2.8 lens made in Germany from 1990 for just $650 in 95% condition! Then I also bought the 18mm Zeiss ZM and went off to Japan for my short 3 day trip. I will be picking up a 28mm ASPH 2.8 Leica lens on monday and will have to wait to get a older 50mm F2 Summicron maybe until Christmas because of greatly depleted funds.

Nikon shooters will be pleased to know that the D700 is a fantastic camera and holds its own against the M9 I thought. The D700 never lets me down and just gives 100% shots every time. I am working on my M9 files from Japan right now. The problem is my skills are not very good with Leica compared to my D700 skills. I've been using the D700 since 2009 Christmas, The D300 (almost same as D700) I had back in August 2008, and I had a D80 and D40x before that. I had a Leica M8 for about 3 months but like Nikodoby I was thouroughly disappointed and sold it. I'll be keeping the M9 for sure though! :) Will post comparison picks very soon.

THANKS to Kanuck on doing a comparison that I could never afford to do but would like to be able to try. This seems to be NR at it's best! I really hope to see an update after he gets a little more time shooting the M9 compared to the D700 which I feel is one of the single best cameras I have ever used. I brace myself for the price of the D700 replacement when that happens as I believe I will feel it is a little out of the price range I'd like to spend on a camera that I would use mostly in the field. FX has some real advantages. For wildlife though for me FX simply it is not the rig at all. There I prefer DX period. The edge to edge sharpness Kanuck comments on with the M9 digital rangefinder is very interesting!! Still at the M9 price compared to the D700 I would myself be staying with D700. I do feel the D700 will endure as one of the world's great practical cameras.

foofiebeast said:
yeah, i'd love to see some (from both cameras :) )

Yup..

PS: thanks for the quick review.

yeah, i'd love to see some (from both cameras :) )

Congrats on your purchase! :) what lens did you use on the m9?

So after some hard saving for a year, I was finally able to purchase a Leica M9 from a certified Leica dealer here in Seoul. I was very eager to see how it stacks up to my D700. I took both to Kyoto Japan for a brief 3 day sightseeing trip.

Right away, I noticed that the M9 needs to be setup precisely in order to take a good exposure. It is very picky with regards to the white balance, EXACT shutter speed, F stop and exposure comensation settings. With any Nikon, or in particular my D700, you can be a little off and still get great shots. I have found that noise is considerable over ISO 1000 on the M9 as well.

I put my M9 on a tripod with a cable release for landscape shots even though I know Leica shooters supposedly don't do this. I got much better results when doing so and after 6pm I felt you have to! Once you get the settings adjusted and re shoot enough times, the M9 images will be astonishing even in the corners. I'd like to post a few and compare them to my D700. The trip was a success however, I'm glad that I brought my trustworthy D700 along because I would have missed a lot of shots had I only relied on the M9.