Silent Shooting with the Nikon Z8

When you take the Nikon Z8 out of the box and start taking photos, it can be amazing how quiet it is. Especially if you’re updating from a DSLR like the D850.

That’s because the Z8 only has an electronic shutter — there’s nothing mechanical moving to make a sound. It’s not even a hybrid shutter, which many recent mirrorless cameras have adopted. So, crucially, there’s no mirror slap or mechanical shutter movement.¹ You can add an artificially generated shutter sound as feedback for convenience, but it’s not a requirement of shooting.

On the Z8, that sound you’re hearing when you press the shutter is actually artificially generated.

But what if you want to shoot silently? Maybe you’re shooting skittish wildlife. Or a theater performance. Or a wedding.

Here’s a rundown of how to set the camera up to get it as quiet as possible. There are two parts to it.

But first, it’s worth noting that the “silent” we’re talking about here is more of a subjective “I can’t hear it” kind of thing rather than an objective scientific observation. What I mean by that is that you can turn off all the noise-making settings on the camera, but there still might be faint sounds coming from the lens during autofocus, adjusting the lens aperture, or the camera going into standby mode (which, again, is the lens aperture). There are some workarounds for some of these below, but there are other moving parts of the camera — especially within the lens — that can still make some noise.

Silent mode

The quickest and most direct option is to use the dedicated Silent Mode.

In reality, this is mostly a “Master Override” for the Camera Sounds option below. It won’t dampen the lens mechanics, but it is a quicker one-touch way to mute the speaker.

It’s a simple ON/OFF toggle, and you can find it under:

Setup menu > Silent mode

The default setting is OFF. 

Adjusting camera sounds (the granular approach)

The Silent mode feature turns all sounds on and off, but the Z8 also gives you the option for more granular control. You can disable or change the volume of the camera’s feedback system, from beeps for autofocus lock to the shutter sound.

This section doesn’t offer any more silence than the Silent mode switch above, but there are times when I don’t require absolute silence, but I do want the camera to be discreet while still retaining some audible feedback. So I might set the beeps off and the shutter sound to low (Volume 1).

You can find these settings under:

Setup menu > Camera sounds

Here’s a rundown of the specific options this gives you access to.

Shutter sound

That shutter sound you hear is fake. It’s an artificial sound because the Z8 doesn’t have a mechanical shutter.

What that means is that you can turn it off. And — thanks to recent firmware updates — you can now customize it. Initially, the Z8 didn’t have the Z9’s custom sounds, but with Firmware 2.0+, you can now choose between different sound types (including a mechanical shutter sound, a film camera sound, or even a soft “meow” for pets).

To turn it on or off, go to:

Setup menu > Camera sounds > Shutter sound

The default setting is ON.

Change shutter sound & beep volume

You can also change the volume. With the newer firmware, you have a scale of 1 (Quiet) to 5 (Loud). To do that, go to:

Setup menu > Camera sounds > Volume

This volume setting controls both the shutter sound and the beeps.

Turn beeps ON or OFF

You can enable beeps for various camera feedbacks, including when navigating the menu or locking focus.

To turn beeps on or off, go to:

Setup menu > Camera sounds > Beep on/off

The default setting is OFF. There’s another choice here in addition to the expected ON/OFF, and that is “Off (touch controls only)”. It’s pretty self-explanatory: it will mute the loud AF lock beep, but keep the subtle ticks when you use the back touchscreen. This is my preferred setting.

You can also adjust the pitch (Low/High). If you have trouble hearing high frequencies, switching the Pitch to “Low” can make the beep audible without making it louder.

Setup menu > Camera sounds > Pitch

Things worth knowing

• It’s worth clarifying that the kind of sound reduction I’m detailing here is external sound. That is, sound you or your subject might hear.
• The “VR Clunk” (Standby Timer). There is a special exception for the standby timer. Even when using Silent Mode, you might hear a “CLUNK” sound when the camera goes to sleep or wakes up. That is the VR mechanism in the lens locking and unlocking.
• The Workaround: To prevent this noise during a quiet performance or wildlife stakeout, you need to stop the camera from going to sleep. Go to Custom Setting c3 > Power off delay > Standby timer and choose No limit (or a longer duration like 10m). Just be aware that this will drain your battery faster.

When shooting video

• There is another kind of sound that is particularly relevant to shooting video if you’re using on-board audio recording, and that is the internal sound of autofocus motors, internal stabilization (VR), or buttons clicking.
• When shooting video, turning down the camera sounds helps, but your audio can be improved enormously by using a manual-focus cine lens or simply using manual focus on your Z lens. They tend to be smoother and don’t have the “hunting” motor noise. Better yet, use off-camera sound recording (like a shotgun mic), which will isolate the audio from the camera body noises.
  
  Or, better yet, use off-camera sound recording, which will bypass this issue and also nearly always give you better-quality sound.

When using flash units

Turning on Silent Mode has a major consequence you need to know about: It is not compatible with flash units.

If you have Silent Mode ON, your speedlight or studio trigger will not fire. If you are in a studio and can’t figure out why your strobe isn’t working, check this setting first. (Unlike older cameras, however, Silent Mode on the Z8 does not lower your frame rate or bit depth.)

When selecting your aperture

Different lenses have different noises. Some have a click when the optical image stabilization engages. But a big source of noise on Z cameras is the aperture blades.

The Fix: Unlike DSLRs, the Z8 often adjusts the aperture blades in real-time. If you want to minimize blade noise, try shooting Wide Open (e.g., f/2.8 or f/4). When you use a small aperture (like f/16), the blades have to physically snap down to take the shot and then open back up to focus, creating a “click-click” sound. Shooting wide open keeps the blades stationary.

The nuclear option

An old analog approach to muffling camera noise is to use a camera blimp. Since the Z8 body is already silent, you generally don’t need this, but if you have a particularly noisy mechanical lens, a sound-dampening cover can help muffle the lens motors.

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Notes & References:

1. One of the downsides of a fully electronic shutter is that you can get rolling shutter distortion with fast-moving subjects. Nikon has tackled this on the Z8 by using a special stacked CMOS sensor with a super high-speed scan rate. [↩︎]