topic Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise in Alpha & NEX interchangeable lens cameras

New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 09:45:55 GMT

The body of the camera is making a a noise like a fan or motor. It is audible shooting stills in a quiet room and also on video playback.

Lenses make no difference and neither does turning IBIS off. I've reset the camera and it made no difference 😞

Can anybody else hear this? It is very noticable if you put your ear to the base of the camera.

I'm very disappointed as everything else about the camera is excellent.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

jumpsuit — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 13:58:22 GMT

Hi @ianwhite16

Unfortunately I don't have any hands on experience with the A6700.

(I want to though - it looks like one heck of a camera )

I would be very surprised if it was deliberately designed to make a constant 'noise'.

The A6400 and A6500 that I've tried don't.

Sony Support aren't open until Monday so until then hopefully another member who has one may be able to comment on this post to give you a comparison.

I've contacted someone from Sony on your behalf, but unfortunately as its the weekend they may be busy.

As soon as I hear anything I'll let you know.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

jumpsuit — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 21:21:40 GMT

Hi again @ianwhite16

I've just had a response from my contact who confirmed that its not normal.

I assume you purchased it from Sony, so I would get in touch with them on

Monday morning.

Here are the details.

Let us know how you get on.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 18:42:23 GMT

Thanks for your help Jumpsuit, I'll contact Sony for a replacement. The camera is also making more of a noise (clunk!) on power on, which I didn;t noticed before. I wonder if this is all a problem with the IBIS?

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

jumpsuit — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 21:02:30 GMT

Hi again @ianwhite16

You're welcome

I'm not sure of the causes but the issues you're having definitely aren't right.

Let us know how you get on with Support. 👍

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

IT_Troll — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 22:51:32 GMT

I just received my camera today (direct from Sony) and have the same issue. A slight clunk when powering on (perhaps normal?) then what I would describe as electronic white noise (perhaps coil whine). Fairly quiet, but constant and I noticed it immediately. Becomes very evident if I press my ear to the base.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

IT_Troll — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 23:37:26 GMT

I've now found a couple of similar reports for cameras in the A7 range with suggestions that it is coil whine from the IBIS. Disabling IBIS doesn't help because it is still powered up when locked.

Are you getting a replacement @ianwhite16? I think I will send mine back.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

danardeng — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 01:53:37 GMT

Do you have a different sony camera (with ibis, of corse) to compare “noise” of coils?

“clunk” when ibis is powered is perfectly normal obviously.

Also an electronic noise level if you put your hear on the camera body is normal in all devices. The most depends on the level, that is hard to understand in a forum. So is important that you compare the noise level with other sony’s cameras to understand

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

IT_Troll — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 07:26:28 GMT

My old camera, the a6400 (without IBIS) is completely silent. I have only found a handful of reports about this noise across various Sony cameras. With so few I suspect it is not normal.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

danardeng — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:18:34 GMT

You have to compare sound level with other ibis camera. It’s the source of (normal) noise.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:29:36 GMT

That seems to be like mine. It would not be as annoying if the noise wasn't recorded on videos but it is.

I'll post a wav file of the noise when I'm on my pc later

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:33:27 GMT

That does not sound like coul whine, certainly not like any that i have heard in graphics cards.

I intend to get it swapped out, but don't want to return the 2x extra lenses i also purchased. I hope my experience there will be better than with Sony support where both agents i spoke with were useless and never replied to my follow up emails.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 08:53:48 GMT

Yes, I've had sony cameras for years and the power on ibis is expected, i just didn't notice it as much on the a6700 at first.

My A77ii is inaudible, but i listened to the bottom of my rx100 and i can hear a similar noise, but quieter, and not audible when my ear is not pressed to the base of the camera, unlike the A6700 which i can hear when it is in my hands, checking out the menus etc, and as background noise in videos, almost like my old Hi8 camcorder!

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

danardeng — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 09:44:56 GMT

If it’s recorded in video, you have to contact sony support. Absolutely.

Maybe that it’s not an issue of your device, and it’s common on all 6700 due to the better IBIS in newer cameras, but they have to know that customer can’t use in video.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:28:30 GMT

Do you think that the linked sound extracted from a video made by camera is normal /acceptable?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BNw-WTX4qk5oqtsHzwFc5-Kr0Nmq0cIY/view?usp=drivesdk

Thanks

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

IT_Troll — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:42:01 GMT

I also have an RX100. You are correct that the RX100 has a similar, but much quieter sound, not really audible in normal use.

Here is my audio, taken from in camera recording on the a6700. In the middle I turn a control dial a couple of times to help gauge noise levels.

https://whyp.it/tracks/114533/a6700-white-noise-plus-control-dial?token=KHeMl

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

danardeng — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:42:47 GMT

Never tried to record video in total silence, I can’t judge

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

danardeng — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:44:44 GMT

Compared to dial sound seems to be really low

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

ianwhite16 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:51:01 GMT

That sounds similar, but much quieter. I'd expect a little noise, but not as much as i'm getting

I only tested via a 'silent' video to send to support to check if it was faulty - still no reply!

I can hear it when holding the camera in a quiet room, which is why I thought it was a cooling fan, and I'm partially deaf!

I've contacted sales to get it exchanged.

Re: New A6700 mechanical 'fan' noise

IT_Troll — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 11:02:37 GMT

Yeah, I guess so. It is just surprising that there is constant white noise, regardless what the camera is doing and then what I assume is IBIS adjustment noise. I imagine the camera will be doing some in-camera noise suppression which I suspect will reduce the effect a little in the recording.