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2 Quick Camera Questions???

Hey guys,

I'm just under 3 weeks until I take off for my first trip to Africa! So Pumped!!! Anyways, I was wondering if the shutter sound on a typical SLR Camera is loud enough in the blind to scare animals away? Also, can anyone steer me in the right direction on a good, quiet, compact tripod for a camera? Something that won't break the bank either.

Thanks G-RUSS

I think the shutter sound could scare animals away,when dead calm. they have radar hearing. I silenced the shutter sound on mine. Forrest

I have to make this quick because I leave TOMMOROW !

I took a DSLR on the first trip, but after the first day I never took it back out on the hunt. Just too much noise.

It didn't spook the critters, but it put them on alert.

Have a good hunt.

I have used several different SLRs in Africa, including both Nikon models (2 different ones) and a Canon (borrowed from the PH). Each of them had a slightly different shutter sound. The Canon seemed to spook them the most. It's just hard to tell. I also have a Panasonic with a nice zoom and it does not seem to bother them as much. It's hard to say whether your particular model will bother them until you try it.

my camera is a cannon power shot. I can go in the menu and silence the shutter noise. you can't here it. don't no about your cameras. Forrest

I have 3 Cannon cameras and I can silence the shutter on all of them. I would not want to leave anything to doubt on sound- silence is golden.

I have a Nikon D60 and shot hundreds of pix from elevated and ground blinds on last trip to Namibia. I don't recall that I tried to shoot anything right up on the blind but at 15 yards or so I can't remember spooking anything. It is not a silent shutter.

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. The camera I'll be bringing is a DSLR Canon Rebel T5i. The shutter sound is quite loud, however I cannot figure out how to silence it? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I don't think there's anything you can do to silence an SLR. As I said, I have had better luck with the Nikons than the Canons in not spooking African game, but I'm sure each model is different. I don't recall what model Canon it was, but it was a digital model back in 2008, so perhaps they've changed since then. You might want to at least try to borrow a good quality non-SLR camera to take as a backup, or you can buy a nice one with a reasonable zoom for a few hundred dollars.

Rig up something to put around the camera. It will help deaqden the sounds of the shutter.

Your camera may have a "quiet" mode. My Nikon D7000 has this. Check your manual. You do have the manual, don't you?! :)

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Most of the noise is usually the mirror slapping up, not the shutter (although the aperture also makes noise when it adjusts for exposure). If there is a way to lock the mirror up before the shot (usually requires live view), try that.

You may also want to just go buy a quality point and shoot for in the blind. Something like the Canon SX 50 HS. For a few hundred bucks, they take great pictures, are extremely quiet, and offer a long reach (in good light) without carrying around a huge lens. I use a Benro carbon tripod for blind hunting. It's top quality and not quite as expensive as some other brands. Using a tripod will help vastly improve the quality of photos taken with any camera, whether it has image stabilization or not.

Since Ziek brought-up vibration reduction, it should be noted that if your lens has a VR (vibration reduction) setting, you should not use it when the camera is mounted on a tripod. They are meant to only be used if the camera has any potential for unsteadiness at the time of the shutter activation, otherwise they made add distortion to your photos.

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