Originally posted by Sluggo That's an interesting observation. To me, the LX isn't loud at all. I wonder if that is a matter of personal perception, or different production runs, or individual camera condition.
The K1000(/KM/Spotmatic) mechanism sounds downright goofy at slow shutter speeds.
Among the Pentaxes I've owned, the most pleasant sound comes from the ME Super. Controlled, positive, softly authoritative.
We were at the Natural History Museum in downtown DC, and I heard his shutter go off from across one of the galleries. Maybe I just knew what to listen for...but there were plenty of people around, it wasn't silent in there. Maybe his mirror bumper is shot.
The K1000/SP mechanism is a little goofy down low....like a cross between an egg timer, a trebuchet and a mouse trap.
The *ist I have has the oddest shutter sound...very whiny and electrical, with hardly any sound of the mirror slap itself at all. Maybe that's because of the good repair of the mirror bumpers and the relative small and plasticy outer shell that lets all the sound of the motors out.
I do like the ME Super's shutter best of my MF cameras, but when I advance the film in the Super Program, it makes a really great mechanical clicking sound as you let the lever ratchet back to rest. Like the clean, mechanical click of a revolver being cocked.
Still, the PZ-1 has just the best sound. It's the definitive Auto-advance SLR camera shutter actuation sound.