Noobie Help - new (used) M8 makes high pitch noise

[armanius]

Hi everyone. Just got my new used M8 yesterday.

When I power on the M8, it makes a very low, in terms of loudness, but very high pitched noise for about a 1/2 second.

When I 1/2 press the shutter button, it makes the same high pitch noise and the noise continues as long as I am 1/2 pressing the shutter button. When I let go the shutter button, the high pitch noise will continue on for about a second or two, and then stops.

It's a very low noise and I can only hear it when my face is close enough to the M8 to see through the M8's viewfinder.

Please tell me that this is normal for the M8!!! I don't want to have to return the M8!!

Thanks for your help everyone.

-Armanius

 

[tightsqueez]

Normal. It's fine.

 

[armanius]

Someone at the DPreview forum said that this is a shutter problem and I should return the M8.

But the noise occurs without my ever fully pressing down the shutter button to actually engage the shutter ... It's my understanding that the half-press only engages the exposure calculations in the M8.

Aaargh ...

 

[Viktor Sebastian]

Normal for my M8s as well.

 

[phototektour]

My M8.2 doesn´t make any noise.

 

[jaapv]

Not everybody can hear it - all digital cameras do to some extent. Don't worry, it is entirely normal.

 

[ruslan]

CCD sensor on m8 is not permanently on, when you half press the shutter button it is turn on for about 5 sec [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]with high pitched noise[/FONT] and then turn off , like Phase one digital backs.

 

[Ben Z]

Why should it happen? (To make cats prick up their ears and look into the camera? 😀) I've never heard a peep out of my M8...maybe all those years of a high-speed drill @ close range has done a Pete Townshend on my hearing 😕

 

[tedwin]

I was wondering about that very same noise just this morning. I, like the others that can hear it, have assumed its normal. But I would be interested to find out what it is...

 

[alecgold]

Well, I've been listning in a very quiet home (wife awai 😀 ) but couldn't hear it.
My wife couldn't either (when she returned home).
Some electronics do make slight noises, I've heard it on several (custom made) titanium flashlights as well.

 

[MartinP]

There have been similar 'whining' noises heard from PDA's (meaning the little electronic organiser things). In those devices it reportedly was something to do with resonance originating in a part of the screen and illumination sub-system.

Possibly this noise sounds different in an M8 if the screen is on or off ? In any event, with PDA's it was not even present on all examples of the same model, so sample variation comes in to play as well.

If anyone would like to send me a few dozen M8 and M9 bodies I will listen very carefully, and report back after a couple of years.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

As we, uh, grow older, our ability to hear high pitched sounds go away. If you've worked in noisy environments or shot guns a lot without hearing protection, you can forget about it! My wife could hear the whine from the flyback transformers in CRT televisions and they almost drove her crazy. She could also hear when we first married the high pitched signal from automatic door openers at stores. I, blissfully, could hear none of it. 🙂

 

[armanius]

There have been similar 'whining' noises heard from PDA's (meaning the little electronic organiser things). In those devices it reportedly was something to do with resonance originating in a part of the screen and illumination sub-system.

Possibly this noise sounds different in an M8 if the screen is on or off ? In any event, with PDA's it was not even present on all examples of the same model, so sample variation comes in to play as well.

If anyone would like to send me a few dozen M8 and M9 bodies I will listen very carefully, and report back after a couple of years.

I need your mailing address. Shall I overnight it there? 😉

On a more serious note, the high pitch noise is there even with the LCD screen off.

Here's a thread about this same issue on another forum from a lonnnng time ago:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/...086-m8-shutter-release-high-pitch-whine.html

The noise may not affect the operations of the M8 ... but like someone else said, I sure would like to know what the deal is.

 

[armanius]

I did a little bit more testing. The high pitched noise actually starts up no matter what button I press on my M8. It can be the play, delete, protect button, or even the control wheel. When I push any button, the high pitched noise comes on. Aargh.

 

[sig]

I had a TV that used to make a high pitched noise. Pretty annoying, but a knock on the top would often make the noise go away.

I have no idea of what a Leica is supposed to sound like, but this sounds like a fault (or maybe Leica has decided that there is to many cat pictures out there, the high pitched noise will scare the mice away and the cats will run after......)

Seriously, can a camera have a sound like that by design? and if it happens on every other camera does that not show that something is wrong?

So, if you can live with it do nothing, if not get it checked. Using a camera (and certainly a Leica) should be a pleasure not 'arghh that noise'

 

[blimey]

used m8 here... mine does not make this noise in any way you described it in earlier post OP.

 

[Keith]

Why should it happen? (To make cats prick up their ears and look into the camera? 😀) I've never heard a peep out of my M8...maybe all those years of a high-speed drill @ close range has done a Pete Townshend on my hearing 😕

I think you've summed it up ... my high frequency hearing was damaged years ago and I've never noticed this noise at all.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

I've never heard any such noise from my M8.
BUT:
I was stationed on an aircraft carrier for 3 years, then at a NAS with EA-6B Prowlers and then took a trip to Iraq for 6 months.
That said, my camera could be whining away like a dremel tool & I'd never notice it 😉

 

[swoop]

I've never heard any whine from my M8. Though I used to hear it from my old laptop and can hear it from my television when it's the only thing on at night and it's on mute.

Most digital devices make some kind of high pitched sound. And like many have said this really varies as to just how sensitive your hearing is and how bad the whine is with a particular device. All of my flashes are loud as hell though. It does get annoying.