Shooting Live Performances with the World’s Loudest Shutter

I chose a seat right at the back of the auditorium where there is no one else around. It’s a good thing the auditorium wasn’t full and everyone was filling the sears from the front. Because it this isn’t the worlds loudest shutter, it certainly feels this way. 

And although I my friends said they couldn’t hear it, having the camera right next to my head makes it seem doubly loud. So to reduce the impact on the performance, I timed my shots so I only took photos during the loud parts, or when there’s applause. There are so many situations other where a silent shutter is useful. Shooting in a church, performance, street photography or general creeping. 

In my camera bag is the RX100 with it’s virtually silent shutter. With an equivalent 100mm at the long end of the lens, its useful in a pinch to get quite usable shots, sacrificing bit of resolution, quality and reach. The lens on the point and shoot doesn’t quite reach as far with my Sony 70-200mm SEL70200G lens. And the image quality can’t compare to the full frame sensor in the A7R I, with its high dynamic range, high sensitivity and low noise at high ISO and high resolution. I did shoot some frames with this at the beginning, but in the end opted for the big camera.   

Other quiet camera options include some DSLRS which have a silent mode. This is is more like a reduced noise sound. Some medium format cameras which use a leaf shutter are silent. And camera phones are silent too, with the rare exception of some with mandatory fake shutter sounds although its not quite the right tool to be used as a main camera. 

So when the A7R II was announced, I was super excited to hear it also has silent shooting mode like the A7S. On the A7S, there are small disadvantages. The silent mode on the A7S has more noise, and therefore less light sensitive. This isn’t a big issue for stage performances as they are usually well lit. Silent mode doesn’t work well with flash, but then that also defeats the purpose of “stealth” mode and firing a flash isn’t really appropriate in these live performances. Lastly, the electronic rolling shutter can distort quickly moving objects which isn’t really an issue here either.  

I’m super keen to see how well Sony does with the silent mode on the A7R as it’s a next generation sensor. It’s due out in August and this brings me to my 4 part series on this upcoming full frame mirrorless camera. On paper, it looks like it’s going to be a real game changer for digital photography. 

The performance was So Sondheim! with Kassia Women’s Choir and others at Sheung Wan Civic Center