Canon 7D Silent Shooting

Question. The Canon manual for the 7D (eos7d-im5-en for 2.0+ (2.03 to be precise)) on page 141 states" Mode 2 When you press the shutter button completely, only one shot will be taken. While you keep holding down the shutter button, the camera operation will be suspended. Then when you return to the shutter button's halfway position, the camera operation will resume. The shooting noise is thereby minimized. Even if continuous shooting is set, only a single shot will be taken in this mode."

So since this is in the Live View section, and I can only get it to work in Live View mode on my 7D, is there any way to quiet down/silence the shutter in normal shooting mode?

No. This is a feature found on the 5d3 and I believe even the 1dx.

Only on the 5D Mark III, as far as I can remember. Some earlier 1D models had a silent mode too, but not that silent.

The 7D is definitely louder than the 60D is used for a little while.

Thanks for the info, just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something in the documentation.

Most of the noise you hear in normal mode is the mirror. When you go into live view, the mirror is locked up which allows you to only hear the shutter as it opens and closes and then resets the mechanism. Mode 2 simply keeps you from shooting continuously. Mode 1 and disable both seem to make the same amount of noise which is the shutter tripping and resetting.

If you need truly silent shooting, you should probably look at a mirrorless camera. Maybe there is something that uses an electronic shutter instead of a physical shutter. Also I seem to recall something called a "sound blimp" which is basically a soundproof box to put around the camera. Not sure how well they work but it may be worth looking into for truly silent shooting.