E-shutter in Canon EOS M5?

jwilliams wrote:

I believe Canon uses an electronic first curtain. This means when taking the picture the exposure is started electronically and then the shutter is closed, ending the exposure. This means only 1 movement of the shutter at the end of the exposure. Many mirrorless cameras close the shutter, open it for exposure and then close it to end exposure. Thats 3 movements. The electronic first curtain results in less mechanical noise and also less chance of the shutter causing vibrations since it only moves at the end of the exposure.

I know in the m43 cameras I have, my EM5 has the 3 movements and my GM1 uses electronic first curtain. Big difference.

Most of the difference you hear with the shutter on the Panasonic GM1 is actually down to the unique design of that particular shutter, which is electromagnetically-actuated and has a stepper motor controlling the blades of the shutter that form the second (and only) curtain, rather than springs and gears as is usual.  A downside of this particular design is the unusually slow travel of the curtain, hence the GM1 (and GM5's) flash sync speed of 1/50 and maximum mechanical shutter speed of 1/500.  EFCS does reduce the sound of a shutter slightly, but not by as much as you might expect - the biggest difference I've heard it make is in Sony's mirrorless cameras, which have an unusually protracted full-mechanical cycle, whose duration is noticeably shortened by EFCS, which is very helpful (though the actual volume remains quite loud).  Your Olympus E-M5 (original, presumably) has a fairly quiet example of a non-EFCS shutter, actually, though the Mark II version (which has EFCS as an option) is rather quieter, including when not using EFCS.

As you say, Canon does use EFCS in its mirrorless models, and the original EOS M has a nice, well-damped shutter sound, a bit quieter than the E-M5 but not as quiet as the GM1.  Yet the EOS M3 is considerably louder and sharper.  I'm hoping the M5 will be quieter than that model.