Is this normal or is my camera defective?

[Ken Rogers]

I just bought a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 digital camera. The camera's artificial "shutter sound" seems faulty. Sometimes it's loud, other times it's quiet. Sometimes I get only a brief "click" sound, other times I get a full "shutter" sound.

I am familiar with the menus, and have checked to confirm that the shutter volume is set to "full".

Ken

[another view]

Had a thought - when you hold the camera, could your hands sometimes be blocking wherever the sound comes from? It's not a mechanical sound that the camera makes, and it's playing that digitally sampled sound through some sort of speaker or something.

[Ken Rogers]

No, I'm not covering the speaker. I get only a partial shutter sound when the flash is down (disabled), and a full "click" sound when the flash is up (enabled).

Ken

[another view]

OK, is the flash covering the speaker? I'm not familiar with that particular camera. If it's not but it's bothering you, then you might want to call Panasonic. Since you just bought it, it should be under warranty.

[Ken Rogers]

OK, is the flash covering the speaker? I'm not familiar with that particular camera. If it's not but it's bothering you, then you might want to call Panasonic. Since you just bought it, it should be under warranty.

The speaker is not near the flash at all. The store wasn't sure, but suggested perhaps it's programmed to sound like a shutter and flash combined (and otherwise just a brief click of the shutter). I'm not sure if I believe that so I will contact Panasonic. Thanks so much for the help.

Ken