Turn off "Mirror Click Sound" in Canon 600d

[RobCharles1981]

Hi!

So I have the Canon 600d and for me it's a great start off camera, but I'm wondering is there a way to "lower the mirror click" when taking photos, by any firmware update if so what?

Thanks

Rob

[MikeSowsun]

There is no way to turm off the "Mirror Click Sound" in your 600D.

Unlike cell phone cameras, or Point and Shoot compact cameras, the sound you here is not a digital artificial sound. It is the physical sound of the mirror and shutter motion. 

Starting with the Canon T6i (750D) Canon added options for "Silent single shooting" or Silent continuous shooting",  but it is just slightly quieter and not really silent. 

You would need to have a mirrorless camera to be completely silent. 

[RobCharles1981]

Thanks,

Is there a firmware addon I can use something like -Magic Lantern? 

[ebiggs1]

"Is there a firmware addon I can use something like -Magic Lantern?"

To silence the shutter?  No there is not.

I am not a proponent of ML for any camera.  If something goes wrong and it does, the camera will turn into a brick.  It will have to go to Canon for repair.  Although you are out of warranty for a T3i however if you were still in the warranty period ML would cancel it as Canon won't warrant cameras with ML.  They may refuse to even work on, for hire, cameras with ML installed.

[RobCharles1981]

Hi.

I've spoken to a camera shop and they said about about the "Mirror Up" when on the "AV" Setting and there's an option in there to silence the mirror?

Thanks

Rob

[Stephen]

Hi Rob!

The 600D, or Rebel T3i here in the US, does not have the option to disable the mirror sound, because, as MikeSowsun mentioned, this is a DSLR, which has a physical mirror that has to move out of the way so that your camera can take a photo. Even when you shoot in Live View (using the LCD), your shutter has to open and close physically, which will make a noise, unlike an electronic shutter found in mobile devices. 

The person at the camera shop may have been thinking of Mirror Lockup which can be used when using a telephoto lens, to prevent excessive camera shake. This, however, will not prevent the shutter from making noise, and the mirror will still go back to its normal position after taking a photo. You can read about that on page 122 of the manual. If you don't have the manual, it can be found HERE. 

We suggest reaching out to Canon for support. If you're in the USA, our team can be reached at 1-800-OK-CANON (800-652-2666) weekdays from 8am to Midnight (ET) or Saturdays from 10am to 8pm (ET).

If you're outside of the USA, please click HERE to find contact information for Canon in your country or region. 

[TCampbell]

Some cameras (not DSLRs) do have a speaker and they make an audio noise meant to simulate the sound of a DSLR camera taking a photo.  But in an actual DSLR... it's not a sound effect.  It really is the sound of the shutter mechanism.  Mostly it's the mirror slap of the mirror rapidly swinging up to clear the light path.  The curtain shutter isn't completely silent... but it's not very noisy.  Then the mirror swings back down for a second slap.

On some newer cameras there is a "silent" mode... notice I put that word in quotes.  That's because it's not really silent.  All that mode does is slow down the speed at which the mirror swings up and down so what you hear is slush and soft thud rather than a hard slap / clicking sound.  You still hear it... it's merely dampened.  

When you go into the camera drive modes (e.g. single shot vs. burst vs. 10 sec timer vs. 2 sec timer, etc.) there's a choice where you see an "s" next to the drive option.  That "s" allegedly stands for "silent" mode... but probably better to think of it as "subdued" mode because you'll still hear the shutter... just not quite as noisy.  

My 5D III and 5D IV both have that mode... but my 5D II did not.  I believe all the mid range and pro range models made in the last few years have it.  I'm not sure if any of the Rebels have it.  

Live view shooting leaves the mirror UP ... so that is very quiet.

[RobCharles1981]

Hii

I've also looked at another way, a manority of the time I'm using "Live View" but I don't use that and select the AV mode and look through the eye view, it appears to be much "Quieter shooting" ?

[kvbarkley]

It will be quieter in AV mode - actually any mode but Live View - because in Live View the mirror and shutter have to activate.