sonyalpharumors

That guy on the golf course – not a very scientific test. Did he have it full auto? Maybe it is the aperture changing. What lens was he using? Some lenses don’t have silent apertures. Maybe it is a OIS issue on the kit lens.

One thing for sure is that it isn’t on the camera. It is on the LENS.

my lord, no one would want to watch any video that is shaking or panning enough to cause this noise.

The only time it would not be noticeable is if you were recording a Mariachi band. Also, doesn’t any one say “NEX” instead of “En-Ee-Ex”?? Seriously, it’s just sex with an “N”.

The only time I notice the clicking is when I have the NEX 5n, tied to a rope, and I;m swinging it around like a lasso.

Fortunately, I’ve never had a client who asked for this, so it is not a problem.

I can confirm there is a clicking sound with my NEX5N when shaking it quite rapidly/violently — to the extent where the produced video would make a person sick of watching. The clicking sound is physical and it comes from the body and not the lens.

I think it is not considered as a problem at all. The web site or whoever brought that up has exaggerated the issue. I am comparing to my other 1080p/60p/60i/24p camcorder, Panasonic HDC-TM700 which was the top performer in the past 2 years. The sound produced from TM700 is not considered clicking but is rather audible and loud when it is being shaken rapidly. Note that this camcorder uses flash only and so it is not from the hard drive.

I bet there is some physical mechanism that is necessary in order to make things work for video recording. It is interesting to see that there was no criticism/negative news from those camcorder forums/review web site.

IMHO, the clicking sound in NEX5N is acceptable.

I want to thank all the beta testers (ie. the people who can’t keep the money in their wallets) for bringing this to Sony’s attention. It benefits all of us, really.

Thank you oh dear first offenders. I’ll hold on till my birthday to purchase a NEX 5n.

No – seriously its annoying and i am a big fanboy and would bash anyone saying the 16mm sucks. But the whole purpose of cameras like NEX is that I dont have to lug around a big bag with a dslr and an HD camcorder on a break from work. This clicking takes away the fun a bit.
Plus I am happy with my NEX 3 till now.

This is strange enough to believe. Everyone tested the camera and nobody notice that click sound and now the camera is on the market now the click sound is noticeable.

I hope Sony will resolve this issue quick as possible.

That rattle is obviously the Wired Remote Plug that I’ve been begging for. Yep, they put one in, but they forgot to port it out for plug.

incredible, including a presentation in Japan gets to hear these “clicks”, apparently Sony already knew of this defect from the beginning, look at from the minute 1:33

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QkNjmwolq8&feature=related

users are entitled to know how to solve this problem!

Although i seldom take video using my camera, this problem is not acceptable imho.

1. Sony highlights the Full HD recording as one of the 5N main feature. By saying that clicking noise in video recording is ok, is like saying that it’s ok and acceptable if there are some random dead pixels whenever you take still pictures.. depending on how you hold the camera..!

2. I feel it is not right to compare with other manufacturer’s camera as this issue is unfair to the current 5N users. It kind of childish really.. like you are saying that it is OK for your kids to do bad/wrong things just because the neighbour’s kid also does it.

Sony’s QC simply should have done better.

wow can’t believe they didn’t notice this problem before it came out? They making so many Handycam for so long. I’m sure they will take them back if it can’t be fix with the FW.

Someone suggested that it’s the orientation sensor making the noise. Which would seem to make sense since the camera is “clicking” when moving it around, even with the camera off and no lens attached. This normally would not be a problem, except for the fact that the built in mike is very sensitive. The built in microphone is picking up this noise and it is being recorded. That’s why the external mike exhibits less noise – it’s not picking up this sound readily. To see how sensitive this microphone is, move your thumb slightly when recording a video (the one next to the rec button). You’ll hear the noise too, just like you hear a luder click when turning the recording mode off. It’s a sensitive microphone and it’s picking up the noise. If the camera is panned slowly, you will hear very little clicking. Sudden movements accecerbate the problem.

They could change the design of the sensor compartment to attenuate this sound. My NEX-5 has a similiar problem, but not as pronounced. It also makes a less audible noise when moving it around (camera and lens off) than my 5n. This could be a sample to sample variation though.

The orientation sensor (or gyro) must have free movement to be able to discern changes in orientation, leveling, etc. It’s this sound that the microphone is picking up and being translated as the “clickin” sound. So any camera in which the orientation sensor is close enough to an overly sensitive internal microphone will exhibit this same “clicking” noise.

One of the solutions that Sony can profer is to give free external microphone to early adapters (until the can attenuate the sound the orientation sensor makes in later production runs). Or they can perhaps reprogram the firmware to lessen the sensitivity of the microphone in the frequencies that the “clicking orientation sensor” is making (but that’s not easy and will affect other “legitimate” sound”).

I think the clicking comes from the mechanical front curtain (shutter thing) or its mechanics.
It seems not to lock properly in pulled up position and I heard this from the first moment I held the camera in my hands.
Until now it has not bothered me too much since the internal mic recordings are pretty much unusable anyways.
Still its a bit annoying and someone at Sony must have noticed as it clicks almost permanently (try slight tilts of 5 degrees to the left and right).

Firmware update will not be able to fix this.

I just received my NEX-5N which I bought directly from Sony. It only clicks when it is turned on and when it is turned off. Panning (horizontal or vertical) does not cause it to click.

Yes, Almazar80 has nailed it — it is the orientation sensor, and only the orientation sensor. Both the NEX-5 and the NEX-5N will record any “camera handling” sounds you make, especially including zooming a zoom lens. So, I would say there’s really nothing different about the microphones at all.

What is different is that the NEX-5N’s orientation sensor is SUBSTANTIALLY louder than the NEX-5′s sensor, and it’s got a higher pitch to it than the lower-frequency sound from the NEX-5′s sensor.

That’s all there is to it, folks — the NEX-5N’s orientation sensor is louder, and the microphones pick up that noise when you move the camera around.

I’m going to make a puking video on my 1 week old 5n, and my canon m41 camcorder and send it to endgadget, so they can puke all over the place, with the clicking sound track of couse.

I noticed this clicking noise on the NEX-5 last year, but taking video clips of family and friends didn’t get affected much. Upon close inspection of the 5N, I can actually see the parts that are making this sound. If you take the lens off and look under the perimeter of the mount, there are four equally spaced “clips”. I’m not sure if these are the orientation sensors, but they are the parts making this clicking sound.

It looks like the function of these parts is to maintain tension when twisting the lens on/off.

The question is will Sony do something about this?