Naaaah it's not noisy. You should have heard the Nikon FM2s with motor drive all the pro photogs used back in the day. If you wondered why every in every public event the speaker appears to try to speak in the while being fired upon, well, there's your answer. "I want to sayKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAa historic eventKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAthe question isn't "what are we going to do", it'sKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAKLAKAthank you."

Compared to that, the N900's camera is pretty silent I'd say.