The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Olympus OM-D whirring noise

popum

New member
My OM-D just arrived with the kit lens. Looks great, feels great in the hand. However, when it is turned on there is constant low level whirring noise. The noise goes away when shooting video. I'm wondering if this is the same for all cameras or if I have a problem.

Mike
 
V

Vivek

Guest
My OM-D just arrived with the kit lens. Looks great, feels great in the hand. However, when it is turned on there is constant low level whirring noise. The noise goes away when shooting video. I'm wondering if this is the same for all cameras or if I have a problem.

Mike
I heard that is the 5 axis stabilisation gyroscope (located in the hump, near the EVF)) doing the job.
 

popum

New member
Found a post from Olympus Technical Support that says it is the IS and can be heard even when the IS is turned off. Guess I'll have to decide how bothersome it really is.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
So from this posts I assume you are mainly newcomers to the Olympus digital system, as this noise is in principle nothing new. Could be heard as well from the E3 and E5 I owned, although it was maybe a bit less because of the bigger mass of the camera itself.

Anyway I am using the OMD indoors and outdoors and I am not disturbed at all. If you want a really quiet camera then go for a film Leica M - nothing will top that :cool:
 

Terry

New member
The noise on this camera is new and different from the older pens. Yes, it is normal and for some people really irritating. Yes, it is normal that it is still there when you turn IS off and yes it diminishes when you are shooting video. Lots of extensive threads on it at DPReview and it is mentioned in their review of the camera.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
The noise on this camera is new and different from the older pens. Yes, it is normal and for some people really irritating. Yes, it is normal that it is still there when you turn IS off and yes it diminishes when you are shooting video. Lots of extensive threads on it at DPReview and it is mentioned in their review of the camera.
Actually in the PENs you are right I could not hear that noise. But from the E3 and E5 I definitely know it was there, but at a much lower level, so maybe many did not even notice it.

As mentioned I do not feel disturbed by this noise from the OMD, but maybe others do so. Anyway it will not go away and I rather prefer this noise which does not disturb me, but gives me a really powerful IS helping to get blur free results.
 

Hosermage

Active member
If the camera is set to auto-sleep in a short time, will the fan noise go away when it's sleeping? Just want to make sure it won't be a battery drain.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
If the camera is set to auto-sleep in a short time, will the fan noise go away when it's sleeping? Just want to make sure it won't be a battery drain.
Indeed it goes away.

Just to make sure it is not a fan noise, for some it might sound as something like that but instead it comes from the IS System.
 

Tesselator

New member
I tested the camera for a little over two hours in the store. Two salesmen and I spent about 15 minutes (5 each) trying to hear the noise and couldn't. We all pressed our ears to the camera in several different places. None of us could hear it with the BG noise of just a store - even with our ears pressed against it.

One looker-on asked if we were going to perform CPR on the thing. :p

I'm inclined to think one needs bionic ear implants in order to actually hear it!
 

jonoslack

Active member
It's certainly there. But your victim certainly can't hear it.
I guess it might bother you if you were already irritated, but the OMD is so un-irritating in every other respect - I can certainly live with it.

More interestingly - I haven't noticed it with the kit lens, but I have with the Panasonic 100-300 . .
 

kwalsh

New member
I'm inclined to think one needs bionic ear implants in order to actually hear it!
I have normal hearing, it is trivial to hear it in a quiet room with the camera held at arms length. Very obvious when using the EVF. It is band-limited white noise, like a small fan or hard drive as some have described. Very inoffensive and not really distracting (to me at least) and unlikely to be heard by anything other than a macro subject and the photographer.

It is certainly possible the magnitude of the noise varies from camera to camera.

It is nearly silent in video mode.

Ken
 

ohnri

New member
The very soft hum is a total non-issue.

Far more importantly, the shutter is very quiet even at 9fps.

The EM5 is certainly one of the best cameras for unobtrusive shooting I have ever used. Better than my M9.

-Bill
 

jonoslack

Active member
Well, on the kit lens I simply cannot hear it (12-50)
On the 100-300 it's quite obvious (but not a problem)

I'd do some more research but it really is a non problem (for me at least)
 

Tesselator

New member
Well, on the kit lens I simply cannot hear it (12-50)
On the 100-300 it's quite obvious (but not a problem)

I'd do some more research but it really is a non problem (for me at least)
Ah, that might explain it. I tested it with the 12-50 kit zoom only. I did put the Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 G on it for a bit but I didn't try to hear the noise while it was on. I put it on only to check how everything handled while shooting at 1:1 ratios hand-held. It did great BTW!





.
 
Last edited:

Elliot

Active member
The noise or hum is interesting. I'm used to Panasonic OIS lenses that will clunk as they are moved about, strictly a mechanical and non-electrical function of stabilization. Is it correct that the Olympus noise is similar, but rather the stabilization is now electrically-powered? Does the noise continue when the camera is turned on but at complete rest, such as sitting on a desk?

And, then, are there other functions on modern digital cameras that are always on and that combine electrical power input plus mechanical movement of some sort? Of course, one thinks of autofocusing as you move a camera around, and lenses are sometimes more and sometimes less noisy, constantly adjusting. But at rest, I haven't experienced a constant noise.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
If the camera is on and IS is on and you put it on a table (at rest) the noise continues. Till the camera powers off.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
Got a new OM-D today and it has the same noise. Very strange. Is there some idea what that could be?
 

jonoslack

Active member
Got a new OM-D today and it has the same noise. Very strange. Is there some idea what that could be?
I think it's the IS . . . . with mine it doesn't happen with the 12-50 kit . . . but it does with both the panny 100-300 and the zuiko 45 f1.8.

IMHO it's no kind of an issue . strange though!

How do you like it? (the camera that is, not the noise)
 
Top