XM2 steady shot
 

When my XM2 is in steadyshot mode I can actually hear I slight noise coming from the lense area which I assume is the steadyshot doing it's work, you uave to slightly wobble the camera which would make sense. It's not picked up by the mic but I'm just a bit worried that it's not actually meant to make that sound. Can anyone confirm that camera also does this. You have to listen carefully it just sounds like small springs or something.

Peter B

I'm wobbling mine as I type...quiet as a mouse...

Barry

Yeah it's not loud, you can only hear it if you're in a quiet room and wobbling the camera slightly like you would if you were trying to keep it steady but any slight hand movement will cause this noise. It's not really a major problem from what I can tell, the pictures fine and the steady shot works I'm just concerned that it might be something loose.

Peter

I put it up to my ear and wobbled it, and made it shift focus and couldn't hear anything, so I'm not sure whats going on in your case. I'd keep an eye (ear?) on it, and see if it get's more noticeable over time.

Barry

Peter,

It may just be a lubrication issue. When cameras are made and lubrication applied, it is fairly even. Then comes the shipping, storeage and transportation. Gravity and heat will have its affects. This is normal. Give your camera a little time (couple weeks of use) and let the lubrication redistibute itself with use. Barry has used his camera extensivly in its short life, so it may not sound the same as yours. As Barry suggests, keep and ear on it and if it doesn't improve, a call to Canon would be in order.

Jeff

The reason why I'm a little concerned is because the other day it had a little bump. It was only a little bump but enough for me to curse myself for doing it. Since then I've just been really paranoid about it and happened to hear that sound and started to think that maybe somehow I've jolted something. To be honest if I have then it would mean that the camera was very poorley constructed because it was only a slight knock. Like I said the sound is very slight, it's not picked up by the mic and is no louder then the slight noise you get from the auto focus sound. You also don't get it if you wobble the camera to much which is I assume because the steady shot can't work on that range. It has to be very subtle movements literarely just a slight twitch from your hand. I'm sure it is just me being paranoid seeing as everything is working exactly the same as it was but like you say Barry I'll keep an ear on it. Could anyone else confim that they're XM2(GL2) doesn't do this?

I've never had a camcorder with a stabilizer that made any detectable noise, regardless of brand or type.
I can hear the autofocus, exposure and zoom drives working, however.

There are some people with extra-acute senses of hearing and smell, that pick up things the rest of us miss. It's a proven fact that about one person in twenty is a super-sniffer and they drive everyone around them crazy, complaining about smells that no one else notices. I know such a guy and I don't envy the people who live with him. The same is probably true about hearing. This is a survival adaptation, to have some members of a group that are able to hear Leopards stalking up through the grass and to detect small leaks in gas lines. Librarians are all born with this super-hearing and can detect a whisper at a hundred paces.

Does this explain your perception of stabilizer noises from your XM2? It may well have a real fault. If so, it may need breaking-in, to loosen up some fittings or maybe there's bad news ahead. I'd ask an assorted bunch of people to listen closely to it and see what the consensus is about those pesky little springs that keep sproinging. Cheers.

Years ago I had a toyota pickup that developed a slight rattle in the engine that only I could hear. Several mechanics listened and didn't notice a problem. 6 years and 200,000+ miles later the truck died, mostly due to neglect (I was young)..and during the autopsy the mechanic noticed that the timing chain guide was broken and blocking an oil channel in the engine, contibuting in a small way to the failure.

Don't be too paranoid, just use your camera and keep listening to it, It will most likely be fine, or it might die ten years from now...

Barry

Peter,

how little a bump? These cameras are pretty robust. I've crashed while snowboarding with my XL1 and "bumped" it hard enough to snap the viewfinder clean off the side. Broken viewfinder swivel aside the camera was fine and is still going strong today.

I'm inclined to agree with Jeff on this one. All new mechanical things take time to 'wear in'. Just like you run in a car engine, so the mechanical components may take time to wear in. Give it a couple of weeks and if no change give Canon a call.

"This is a survival adaptation, to have some members of a group that are able to hear Leopards stalking up through the grass and to detect small leaks in gas lines"
LOL. Steve where the hell do you live?
You do have point though, it's like when you get a small scratch on a brand new car and you can see from a mile off but no one else can see it unless they have a magnify glass.

Cheers guys I'll keep you posetd if anything else happens, actually do you think it's worth me just posting a mail to Canon to see if they can confirm this or will they think I'm as mad as what you probably think I am.

Peter, no wild Leopards in Oregon, but there's numerous Cougars prowling around within 1/3-mile of my door. If I get a GL2, my goal is to catch them on tape from enough distance, that they don't get me. I may have to start packing heat, if I
get too invasive of their territory.
I guarantee they could hear it, if my camera was making any funny sounds. I have a faintly noisy head-drum on a camera and the deer can hear it from far off, while I have to be within 15 feet to pick it up.

Adrian basically what it was, was that I had the camera on a window ledge, the front of the camera the lense protector part was resting on the window frame . It was so that I could get the camera at a slight angle looking up. As I went to get something I pulled the cable at the back with my foot which in turn pulled the camera back making it drop off the lip(not the ledge). I would say it actually probably fell less then 3cm because the lens protector is slightly higher then the base of the camera so the base of the camera would have hit first. Hang on lets try and do a diagram on the computer

CAMERA
|
V
_______
| |__
| __|_
___ |_______| | | <-----lip(window frame)
____________ | |




Ok the camera would actually be at an angle not floating like that but...well I couldn't find any symbols that would create my camera at an angle. But as you can see it's an accurate representation of an XM2, Oh the black line at the back of the camera is the cable. Anyway I pulled the cable and the camera jolted back slipping off the lip. I reckon it only fell a couple of CM because the bottom of the camera is lower then the actual lens (please note that this isn't drawing into the diagram due to time constraints)

Hope this explains what my camera has been through, on a seperate note if anyone needs accurate diagrams of houses, offices even complex schematics of nucular submarines then please feel free to call.

Ok I've just posted this and my carefully drawing diagram has become nothing more then a jumbled mess of sticks. I'm guessing because of the difference in widths when the actual post comes up. This basically means that the last half an hour of detailed planning and creating down to the finest details has been a complete waste of time.

Next Time
 

For next time?

http://www.telescope.com/cgi-bin/OrionTel.storefront/3d6ce7fb0084be90eacdc0a80a650785/Product/View/B004

You know what I do actually have a tripod but I was just being really lazt because I knew it would only take a few secs.

Peter,

With a bump of that magnitude, I'm surprised your whole house didn't fall down.

I tried your maze but still couldn't find the cheese.

However, I think your camera will make it through the night. No need to put in in ICU.