Sony DSC-HX5V - Audio Problem

[imawheel]

Does anyone else own this camera or a similar model??

I bought a brand new DSC-HX5V recently and had it replaced due to the fact that the audio it's movies produces makes various whistling and clicking sounds!
These sounds are amplified massively if you cover the microphone holes, which ironically is what a lot of people say to do, with various materials, to obtain better audio quality by reducing wind noise.

Unfortunately the replacement camera shares the same audio problem.

I've posted a couple of videos here if you would be so kind enough to check them and see if it is the same as on your HX5V or similar:

http://www.youtube.com/mharrisvideos

Anyway, I've looked at various other videos online and the problem doesn't seem too apparent on any of them, I can't hear anyone talking about it on the internet. I've already tried all the video settings, different memory cards etc. and nothing seems to change it.

If anyone has this camera or a similar model and can give me their opinion on the audio it'd be great!

Thanks a lot !

Michael

[Photo-John]

Yup. You're going to hear that with any Sony HX5V and pretty much any other compact camera, for that matter. What you're hearing is the auto focus and zoom motors. If you put the camera on single shot auto focus I bet you'll hear less of that noise. There may still be some from whatever motor controls the image stabilization. The bottom line is, that's the way things are. The good news is, if you're shooting video in a situation where there's any ambient noise, those sounds will probably disappear. And if you plan to edit your video, you can always drop out the audio or cover it up with music

[imawheel]

Thanks for the reply, Photo-John!

It's good just knowing that it's probably something that's standard with compact cameras.

I'll see if i can change the settings to 'single shot auto focus' now.

[Photo-John]

Happy to help! And for what it's worth, even most digital SLRs have the same problem. Think about it - motors make noise and until recently that wasn't an issue for most cameras. If you look through the compact camcorder user reviews on the site you'll find motor noise is a common complaint there, too. Pros often use a separate recording device for sound so they don't care of the lens makes noise. It's only recently that camera makers have started to try to make compact cameras with silent-focusing lenses. Pre-focusing should eliminate most of it. And like I said, you can get rid of a lot of it with good editing software. It would only be in a quiet environment, like your sample video, that it would really be noticeable.

Do me a favor and please write a review for your camera. I know we need user reviews for the Sony HX5V:

Sony Cybershot HX5V User Reviews >>

Thanks for joining us and thanks in advance for your review. I hope you'll stick around and become a part of the community