Back in the old days, cameras were mechanical devices. You pressed the button and a mechanical iris engaged to set the width of the lens diaphragm and a shutter opened and closed at the required speed for the exposure. A Leica made a lovely, gentle hiss (I borrowed one once) and my industrial-strength Zenit made a loud clunk. Possibly because it was made out of the combine harvesters that were remaindered during the Kazakh famines of the 1930s. The Zenit was the entry-level SLR; it was about a quarter of the price of the next cheapest model on the market.
It's all digital now. Which is good in lots of ways: I get to see the pictures there and then and I can tidy up the exposure without the use of chemicals and red light bulbs. No moving parts, unless you count my finger.
So why does everyone's digital camera go clunk?
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10 comments:
One of those mysteries of the universe. But a right bugger if you're trying to take a sneaky shot of a nervous bird!
One of my favourite photographers - Neil Nimmo, used a big square box thing on a stand and he would bend over it and all you could see was this shiny bald pate.
You had to be there.
so that people know when a pic is being taken? there really is no reason for any sound to be made. xoxox
I can turn the sound off on my camera but people (older non-digital experienced) expect to hear something so it there for feedback.
Unless you meant "clunk" as in broken. Then that happens so the company can sell you the newer model.
I combination of the internet and digital cameras is changing our world.
I'm trying to turn my clunk off so I can go private detective
I hear Polaroids are making a comeback....that clunk, click or hiss is just reassuring isn't it?
Mine does not go clunk. When I switch mine on, it sounds like the first notes of '(Gimme, Gimme, Gimme) A Man After Midnight' by ABBA. It's sad that I even know that.
clunk click, every pic
moreidelthoughts: this is what struck me, quite forcibly, the other day.
Pat: I always fancied having a go at a large format camera. There's a romance about them.
savannah: I suspect you're right, how else could the model know it's time to go home?
lisleman: I've yet to find a way of doing that on mine, more's the pity.
My old Zenit once made a serious clunking noise when I accidentally dropped it off a cliff I was climbing (I don't do mountaineering, I was just taking a short cut). Forty feet later I discovered that it was still mechanically sound but there was a chip in the front of the lens where it had met a sharp edge of one or other boulder. Both camera and lens remained serviceable for another seven years.
Lulu; dear heart, you could never turn your clunk off.
nota: a quiet, business-like swoosh would suffice for me.
Madame DeF: how terrifying!
Ellis: I theng you!
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