OM-1 audible IBIS sound / noise disrupts movies

WillRose
April 11, 2023
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    Members 3 posts
    April 11, 2023, 1:20 a.m.
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    I'm experiencing an unexpected but severe problem with the OM-1, relating to audible noise (sound) from the IBIS system, and I'd appreciate hearing others' experiences...

    First, some stipulations:

    • Some people have better hearing than others, so what one person can hear, another might not be capable of hearing. My hearing is good.

    • The OM-1 model makes an audible whirring sound, all the time, when it is on. Many people have noticed this. OMDS has confirmed this as the IBIS system and says it is normal. (I suspect people who have an OM-1 and believe it silent actually have deficient hearing.)

    • I am using a non-stabilized lens, on a 2-week-old camera.

    Above and beyond the constant background whirring sound, I have noticed two things:

    1. My OM-1 emits a considerably louder whirring sound when focusing in SAF mode. The sound comes from the body, not the lens, occurs regardless of the lens used, and does NOT occur with CAF. CAF is silent (except for the normal background whirr).

    2. My OM-1 emits a loud (audible from several feet away) rattling sound when filming in movie mode when the stabilizer is set to M-IS1 or M-IS2. It does not rattle when set to M-IS Off.

    This rattling sound is so loud it is picked up by the OM-1's internal microphone, and is disruptive on the audio track of the video. The rattling sound gets louder still if the OM-1 is held in anything but a flat level position. The rattling sound is clearly audible during playback of the movie using the OM-1's internal speaker. It is clear as day when using headphones or an external speaker. The rattling can also be picked up by an external mic positioned near the OM-1, so short of using a mic on a long boom, any video filmed with this camera has a contaminated audio track.

    This IBIS noise basically makes the OM-1 unusable for making any videos with sound using the internal mic.

    1 is undesirable but tolerable. 2 is not tolerable.

    Is anyone else experiencing anything like this? Is this normal and the OM-1 is defective by design, or do I have an unusually noisy IBIS and need to seek service from OMDS?

    Thanks...

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    Members 3 posts
    April 12, 2023, 2:36 p.m.
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    For what it's worth, as I only got the E-M1 MkIII as reference:

    The IBIS makes a whirring sound, that is the sensor stabilizer, no problem and barely noticeable as opposed to the original E-M5 where the noise could be quite disturbing. It definitely is not annoying and cannot be heard some inches away. And my hearing is not that bad. When I put on my Sennheizer MKE400 mono-mike in the camera's hotshoe, the whirring sound completely goes away on the recordings.

    The rattling sound, yeah I can hear it but only in CAF-TR, and here it comes from the lenses' focusing system, tested on my 12-40/2.8 MkI and my 8-25mm/4. It completely goes away when the lenses are pushed into manual focusing mode. And unfortunately it can be heard from a somewhat larger distance than just inches, but feets away... possibly in a very quiet room. The good thing, the Sennheizer mike fails to pick up that sound, Unfortunately, using the internal mikes on the camera this sound is quite annoying.

    What lense(s) are you using?

    Concerning your camera, unless other people can confirm your findings as being normal, I would assume to return this unit for check and repair under warranty or possibly replace by a new one.