About that hum/whine in SD500 AVIs

[ChiyoDad]

Maybe you've experienced it, maybe not. A lot of SD500 buyers have noted a whine or hum in the background of their AVI files.

It's most noticeable when you capture a clip where there is little to no ambient noise (like a closed room, or during a piano recital where the audience is quiet). It's almost acceptable when the volume is turned down. It's objectionable when the volume is turned up. It's barely (if at all) noticeable when outdoors (unless you're using it late at night with no background noise).

It doesn't seem to be a defect but the nature of this small camera. I'm not an engineer but it might have been a challenge to build a sensitive microphone into this little camera without the risk of picking-up some disturbance or noise. Of course, you might then be curious if other small digital cameras suffer from a background whine.

It's not meant to replace your camcorder (albeit, many of us were hoping that it could for a few occasions - myself included). Maybe we should look into something else. :confused:

So, have you experienced it? Is it completely absent in your unit? What do you think? Was it bad enough that you decided to return your SD500? Are you fine with it? Think it might be a bad batch? (If so, post your serial number - minus the last 4 digits - and the state/country from where you bought it so we can compare.)

#022820XXXX - Northern California

[ChiyoDad]

I sent an email to Canon Customer Care and this is the response that I got. It suggests that the noise is not normal and that implies that it might be part of bad batch. :eek:


Dear Mr. [snip],

Thank you for writing to us. We value you as a Canon customer and
appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We are sorry to hear that
your PowerShot SD500 is making a noise during your video clips.

Please ensure that you are not blocking the camera's microphone during
the recording. Unfortunately, if the issue persists, your camera will
require factory service for correction.


While I could send the camera to Canon for a free in-warranty repair, it will cost me less to just return it to my retailer and buy a replacement. Luckily, I bought my camera from Costco and can return it at anytime. :)

I would be interested to hear from other SD500 owners as to whether they have gotten the noise issue resolved.

[PMR]

I contacted Canon Support and they said:

Thank you for your inquiry. We value you as a Canon customer and
appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We are sorry to hear of any
issues with the PowerShot SD500.

Unfortunately, if the issue continues the unit will require testing
internally.
Please verify with the dealer on exchange options.

Thank you for choosing Canon.


I'm not sure if they relize that almost all of their cameras have this problem.

*note: I don't have the SD500 I just said I did inorder to see what their response was.

[ChiyoDad]

I'm not sure if they relize that almost all of their cameras have this problem.

Well, Jeff Keller didn't encounter the problem with the SD500 he examined for dcresource, and I've seen at least one other post where an owner said he/she did not experience the hum/whine. On my SD500, it sounds a bit more like a soft chorus of crickets.

There's probably a marketing exec somewhere in Canon's offices who's saying, "Well, some of the buyers probably don't care much about the video mode so they won't care about the whine. We'll deal the rest on an as-they-come basis while we get the problem in the (manufacturing) line fixed." IMHO, he'd probably be right and they'll only see 25%-35% of the bad batch come back in product returns.

[Dimitri]

I experienced it with the SD500, and was one of the reasons I returned it. It's probably just bad design on Canon's part. I wonder if it can be fixed without replacing the camera.

[ChiyoDad]

I experienced it with the SD500, and was one of the reasons I returned it. It's probably just bad design on Canon's part. I wonder if it can be fixed without replacing the camera.

I think it'd be interesting to find out if folks in Europe or Asia (buying the Ixus-700) have experienced the same problem.

[schmoppa]

I thought I heard some high-pitched whine/buzz on a Powershot Pro1 movie; I will have to double check that.

[JTL]

I just shot another three 2-minute-or-so movies over the weekend and I have to tell you...I do hear a very slight and faint high-pitched "whine" if I crank the volume to 10!!!

SD500 S/N 022820xxxx

[ChiyoDad]

I just shot another three 2-minute-or-so movies over the weekend and I have to tell you...I do hear a very slight and faint high-pitched "whine" if I crank the volume to 10!!!

SD500 S/N 022820xxxx

It's probably an inconsistent flaw. I hear it when my volume is turned up to 40% which is comfortably audible but not loud. I tried using other media players and I've confirmed that the whine is embedded in the AVI file.

[Toonses]

Yes I Have it. if there is any steady sound, you can't here the whine. But it is definately there in quite rooms, or in pauses in conversation, etc.

S/N 022821xxxx

[lawa]

Yes. We have the same problem here in Europe with the IXUS 700. S/N: 033820XXXX

[scants]

Same problem here in canada too..

[ChiyoDad]

I tried doing a few more test AVIs today. On my first capture, the whine was mostly gone and I could hear only static. On my 4 other captures the whine was there, but its tone varied depending on whether I was using standard mode, vivid color mode, sepia or B/W. I was using a SanDisk Ultra II 1.0GB SD Card.

The whine also seemed to be slightly reduced when using the Canon SDC-32MH card which came with the SD500.

If anyone can try a similar experiment, let me know what your results are. :confused:

[yonika]

Hey Guys,

I tried listening to Jeff's train video on the sd500 review page.
Although there's a train going there and there are sounds of
bells, if you listen very carefully, you'll hear that whine is there also.

Because of the background noises, you can notice it only if you're
looking for it, But it's there !

For those asking, I got an IXUS 700 and I got the whine.

Jonathan.

[ChiyoDad]

Hey Guys,

I tried listening to Jeff's train video on the sd500 review page.
Although there's a train going there and there are sounds of
bells, if you listen very carefully, you'll hear that whine is there also.

Jonathan.

I tried listening for it but there was too much noise from the train. I've been thinking of getting the SD400 (now available at Costco) but the sample photos from Jeff seem more blurry. Don't know if his hands were a little shaky because he was sick and still being a trooper. (BTW. Thanks, Jeff! :o )



I'M TAKING THE NEXT STEPS

I'm betting that the whine is more of a quality-control failure somwhere in the broader assembly line and it probably won't be traced to a specific batch of SD500s. I'll be ordering another SD500 from Costco next week and will be hoping not to hear the whine. Will let you folks know what I discover in about a week's time. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, keep posting your experiences and the first 6 digits of your serial numbers. If it DOES turn out to be a bad batch, at least we might begin to see a pattern.

[Jimmy Cai]

I also got this problem in China, SN:036730XXXX.

[ChiyoDad]

I got my second SD500 from Costco this afternoon and it DOESN'T have the whine. There is a very faint static (or white noise) but I have to turn the volume up to hear it. The static is no different that what you sometimes hear with regular camcorders. I'm keeping the second and returning the first to Costco.
:D

The serial is notably different and the print of the serial number looks a bit larger and more pixelated (coarse). Other than that I can't see much difference.

032120XXXX

But this does hold out hope for all of us. As long as we can return or get an exchange, we can all eventually get a unit that doesn't exhibit that annoying whine/hum/chorus_of_crickets.
:)

[JTL]

I got my second SD500 from Costco this afternoon and it DOESN'T have the whine. There is a very faint static (or white noise) but I have to turn the volume up to hear it. The static is no different that what you sometimes hear with regular camcorders. I'm keeping the second and returning the first to Costco.
:D

The serial is notably different and the print of the serial number looks a bit larger and more pixelated (coarse). Other than that I can't see much difference.

032120XXXX

But this does hold out hope for all of us. As long as we can return or get an exchange, we can all eventually get a unit that doesn't exhibit that annoying whine/hum/chorus_of_crickets.
:)Thanks for the update! I was beginning to worry that mine was the only good one out there (which would either make me deaf or nuts... :D ).

[ChiyoDad]

When you stop to think about it, we who buy these cameras as soon as they're announced are the canaries in the coal mines. We're the early adopters so it's natural that we might get stuck with units that are revised later on.
:p

The important thing to keep in mind when buying any product during its first year of release is to make sure that you're covered by a retailer's return policy and the manufacturer's warranty. The problem that I have with manufacturer's warranties is that you still have to shell out money to ship the product to them. (Not to mention the hassle of it all.)

I wish everyone a whine-free SD500 and thank Costco for their customer satisfaction policy!
:)

[gctan77]

So I just received my sd500 from Dell, and the first thing I tested was the video. I'm not sure about other people, but the whine was loud and obvious on mine.

Before getting mine, I thought it was probably something I could just deal with. But it's so loud on mine that it pretty much drowns out any other sound.

Anyways, I'm returning mine for another try. Has anybody had to return more than one camera to get a good one? I'll probably just pick up a different camera if it continues to be a problem.

[zmansbr]

My SD500 had the whine big time. It ruins the video. I disagree with the opinion that this type of whine is OK in a small camera.

So, since coincidentally the LCD also broke, I sent mine in to be repaired. I included a letter that specifically requested they fix the whine on video capture. Amazingly they replaced my LCD at no cost but the whine seems to be the same. The report order noted my request, but they didnt's specfically say they worked on it. The Service Details on the order said:

"Replaced LCD Panel. Clean and checked all function for good working order."

Oh well, too bad. Too late to return. I'll probably try to buy another one without the whine and then sell this one eBay.

[ChiyoDad]

My SD500 had the whine big time. It ruins the video. I disagree with the opinion that this type of whine is OK in a small camera.

So, since coincidentally the LCD also broke, I sent mine in to be repaired. I included a letter that specifically requested they fix the whine on video capture. Amazingly they replaced my LCD at no cost but the whine seems to be the same.


That's very disappointing. I'm now glad that I didn't take Canon up on their offer to repair the whine on my first SD500.

[LANNY R]

I got my second one and it has the whine, just like the first. Im gonna try for a 3rd. I had an SD300 and SD400 for a while, and neither had any hum or whine. My SN is 042140XXXX. I posted some video whine samples at http://homepage.mac.com/lannyfr/SD500TESTIMAGES/ and I called Canon support. They said they never heard of it, tried their in office camera and said they had no problem, to either return it or send it to them for repair. Ha. I sent an e-mail too, and this time included links to samples from myself and other samples that more people had posted, as well as to some of the threads in this and the Digital Photography Review about the whine. I will report back on what their response is, and how my 3rd camera try goes.

[kimnkk]

I too have got my second one and i get the same whine! Anyone beginning to think it's because of the memory card? I haven't tried any other. Currently using a Kingmax 512MB 66x.

Serials:
044740xxxx
044740xxxx

[LANNY R]

Im using a Sandisk Ultra II 1 gb, the same brand that I used in my SD300 and SD400, both of which were whine-free.

[gnu]

Mine is 032130xxx and seems to have less whine than what other people have posted; although there is something there that my old s500 movies did not, it is very slight. Actually, the level of that "something" changes with each movie I take, so I don't know what's causing it, but it's never severe. Sometimes it's not even there. :confused:

[LANNY R]

Yeah, thats so wierd...mine seem to varie in pitch and tone too. I took 2 one right after the other, exactly the same location, camera settings and scene, and one was high pitched and the other a bit lower in pitch, but equally loud and disruptive. This second camera is getting a lot more static pops than the first one did too.

[LANNY R]

Well, I just heard back from Canon re the whine issue. Here is their infuriating reply:

"Thank you for contacting Canon product support. We value you as a Canon
customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We apologize for
any inconvenience with the PowerShot SD500 getting a whine noise when
recording.

This is not a known issue for our cameras. We can offer you the
warranty option of having the camera looked at by a hands on technician
at our factory if you prefer not to keep swapping the units."

This is totally useless and they still wont acknowledge that there is an issue here after all the calls and emails we have all sent them, and the samples and links I sent in my original e-mail.


Just fyi, here is the e-mail I had sent to them last night, to see what their response would be:
"Dear Canon Representative,

I am writing in regard to the issue of audio whine in the SD500. This issue is well documented in the digital photography forums where people have said they contacted Canon about it, however Canon representatives continually report that it when we report it, this is the first they have heard of it.

I am particularly concerned, because I just purchased an SD500, and it had the whine. There are people on line who stated that they returned their unit 2 or 3 times till they got a noise free unit. I did a swap yesterday and came home with another unit that shows whine. I know it is NOT a limitation of ultra-compact cameras (as one forum member was told by Canon) because I previously had an SD300 and SD400 both of which were whine free, and others on line said they eventually got whine free units. Also, it is not from the focus or zoom within the camera because the SD300 and SD400 I had were completely whine free.

So I am writing to Canon to ask what is the story with this camera. I cant see paying $500 for something that has a major feature that doesnt work properly. Is there a quality control issue here or are all SD500s like this? I have a 7 day return window from my retailer, so if you can tell me that this is not an inherant problem with the SD500, then I will return the unit to the store and keep trying to swap units till I can find one that is whine free until I finally get one. If this is a problem with ALL SD500s, then I will give up on this camera and swap to something else, which is a shame because I love Canon color and I am very pleased with the image quality of this camera. Also, the reviewer at Digital Camera Resource Page made note in his review that people were complaining about the high pitched whine that people were getting when recording in quiet rooms, but his unit was fine, indicating that there ARE whine free units out there.

I posted some SAMPLES OF THE WHINE on my website, and of a video from my lost SD300, that was whine free for contrast:
http://homepage.mac.com/lannyfr/SD500TESTIMAGES/

Here is a link to someone else's whine sample:
http://photonut.smugmug.com/gallery/463087/1/18728392

Here is a link to a sample video from an SD500 that is whine free:
http://www.kavanagh.de/MVI_0015.AVI

Here are a few links to CANON FORUM THREADS ON THE WHINE ISSUE, with a lot of people commenting on their SD500 having whine, and some who dont have the whine problem:

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8479

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=13593288

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=13343453

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=13608588

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, by me as well as the other members of the forums.

Thank you
--LANNY RICHMAN"

[vanDivX]

I got mine last week and also has that high pitched whine sound underlying everything, I sort of wonder if the cause might be some auto level sound adjustment which works to make the mikrophone less sensitive in noisy environments and rews it up in silent ones which results in some circuit noise filtering in...

my old canon S300 had no such big problem, also if some people here don't have problems, I don't want to offend somebody but people have ears so bad you wouldn't belive, what is unaceptable to one is ok for another, maybe some folks have tiny plastic speakers they listen to the sound on or they just hear poorly, always happens when you get info from somebody who you don't know (again, nobody should take this personally, those reporting no noise might just be lucky with their unit)

I would be more interested in finding some noise removal via software processing of the soundtrack, it would be easy for me to clean the sound if I knew of some denoising program that would work on this

I tried Nero wave editor but as layman in these things, I just turned those fricking nobs (what a *&^%^ interface design) but didn't get any good result, only some partial success

for what its worth, here is # 045130xxxx

vanDivX

[gnu]

I've noticed that the whine is much less pronounced, at least for me, when using fast frame mode.

[stevensteinberg]

Why don't you all stop whining about the whine already! It's a still camera with the added benefit of taking video clips. If you want pristine video, you buy a video camera. The sd500 still has the best video I've seen from a still camera, so just use it for what it is worth, to capture moments that you would have lost had you not taken such a small camera everywhere you go. :rolleyes:

[gnu]

No. That might have been true when video mode just came out, and still a novelty, but today it is a bona fide, primary reason for purchasing a digital camera--especially with recording capability up to the capacity of the memory card. I have this silly belief that if you buy something, it should work the way it is supposed to work!

[LANNY R]

Why don't you all stop whining about the whine already! It's a still camera with the added benefit of taking video clips. If you want pristine video, you buy a video camera. The sd500 still has the best video I've seen from a still camera, so just use it for what it is worth, to capture moments that you would have lost had you not taken such a small camera everywhere you go. :rolleyes:Ok, this takes the prize for the most ludicrous comment of the year. IF this was a $200 camera and not a $500 investment, OR if ALL the SD models had this same whine, I would suck it up and agree with you. BUT . . . the SD300 and SD400 models I had, and reportedly other SD500 models out there are whine free, so why should I settle for a unit that is malfunctioning??? And, this is an expensive investment, even compared to other cameras in its range that dont have manual control. So for me to drop that kind of money, the unit had better be operating as advertized, and not have a defect that will detract from the enjoyment that I, or others I share my video with will get from it. And for the record, I do have a camcorder, and its a Canon, for the important moments in life, and I also have a full sized SLR, but I am buying this camera so I dont have to lug either when I am out on the run. Get the point? :mad:

[LANNY R]

No. That might have been true when video mode just came out, and still a novelty, but today it is a bona fide, primary reason for purchasing a digital camera--especially with recording capability up to the capacity of the memory card. I have this silly belief that if you buy something, it should work the way it is supposed to work!EXACTLY!!!

[jj007]

Just received my SD500 today. It also has a LOUD whine in movie mode. Hopefully this is something that can be addressed with a firmware upgrade....and soon.

Serial #: 032121XXXX

Update 5/30: The whine sound has gone away......no explanation why. Audio is very decent considering the compact size of the camera. Good luck to everyone else!

[LANNY R]

Looks like 3rd time is the charm!!! I just got home with my third unit and downloaded some video clips I took in the store and at home under the same conditions that were causing that god awful whine in my first 2 cameras. While it is not pristine, it is way way way better than any of the previous 2 units were. I am sooooooo glad I gave it one more shot instead of just sticking with the 2nd try. I am one very happy camper now, and eager to snap everything in sight!!!!! :D :D :D

[kimnkk]

Congratulations! I'm got my third replacement in my hands and it still shows the whining, albeit less severe than the other 2 i've had. I might just stick with this one.
Enjoy!

Cheers.

P.S Can you post up a small sample for us? Thanks!

[LANNY R]

I added a new clip to my sample page from the 3rd unit at http://homepage.mac.com/lannyfr/SD500TESTIMAGES/ It is actually the noisiest of all the clips I filmed today, some others were nearly whine-free. Compare that to the whine on my web site from MovieSample-2nd Unit to see the difference. Hope that helps.

[#1RAGE]

:( My SD500 has this terribly loud whine aswell. I love the camera and one reason I bought it over the A series cameras is to have 30 fps and 60 fps video shooting modes but the whine ruins most movies.

I'm going to send an email to Canon today.

My serial # is 0451301xxx

[vanDivX]

I think more and more that the microphone on the SD500 is rewed up to be way too sensititive and that's where the trouble is, probably some electronic parts in the camera are not up to snuff for such sensitivity

the other day I shot movie driving around town and I held the camera in hand shooting through front windshield and I can hear in the movie the sound of my automatic transmision clicking mechanically like when changing gears which sound I normally don't hear even if I try to in my car, go figure

also took movie while riding my bike, again holding camera in hand and whenever I went through some pothole or something, it came out as very loud noise, louder than I would have thought would be warranteed. I didn't talk as commentary and noise around was general city background noise on a quiet street with some park around....

I find I could easily live with the microphone being less sensitive, would be nice if you had setting to that effect in the camera menu, that might help with the whine noise

vanDivX

[Photography_Max]

"I'm not an engineer but it might have been a challenge to build a sensitive microphone into this little camera without the risk of picking-up some disturbance or noise. Of course, you might then be curious if other small digital cameras suffer from a background whine."

Hello, I'm new to this - a big Canon/Nikon/Digital Imaging fan and an electronics engineer. I have heard of the humming noise issue with certain video cameras in very quiet environments but that is always due to the actual movement of the tape drive unit in the camcorder. I can tell you that the SD500 has NO moving parts during the video capture (you can't zoom either during recording)- which means that there aren't any noises generated by the camera to be picked up by the microphone.

As was previously posted here (see above)- it seems more likely that the microphone sensitivity is set too high and it is generating it's own electrical noise (similar to digital noise in an image file, only this noise is in the audio channel and audible). Another support to this claim is that most members here seem to notice this problem when the volume is cranked (similar to raising the ISO on a digital camera) which would be the most electronically noisy enviroment for the audio circuit.

Manufacturers of video cameras generally use an AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuit in these devices. This is probably the case here as well. An AGC circuit detects how much ambient noise is around and increases or decreases the sensitivity of the microphone accordingly. So if you are in a quiet environment the AGC circuit will increase the sensitivity of the microphone so you can hear the faintest sound. By contrast in a noisy environment it will decrese the sensitivity of the mic so that the audio channel isn't just a rumbling sound.

This would explain why you can't always hear it when recording movies outside but you can when inside.

So what does this all mean - it is very unlikely that Canon service technicians will be able to completely remove the noise generated at extremely low ambient noise levels without sacrificing the audio quality at other ambient noise levels.

That's my 2 cents

[ChiyoDad]

Manufacturers of video cameras generally use an AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuit in these devices. This is probably the case here as well. An AGC circuit detects how much ambient noise is around and increases or decreases the sensitivity of the microphone accordingly. So if you are in a quiet environment the AGC circuit will increase the sensitivity of the microphone so you can hear the faintest sound. By contrast in a noisy environment it will decrese the sensitivity of the mic so that the audio channel isn't just a rumbling sound.


That's plausible albeit it has to be a very case of QC of the AGC circuit in the SD500s.

One of my first test videos was of my daughter practicing her recital piece on the piano in a noise-controlled room. There were several measures where she played fortissimo (extra loud) but the whine was consistently loud as well.

Whatever the cause, my advice remains the same; buy from a retailer who will exchange or accept a return until you are satisfied.

I did notice that Costco.com has stopped carrying the SD500. Either they ran out or they're waiting for Canon to reduce the occurence of this problem.

[ChS]

This is my third unit. While the 2nd and 3rd are a bit better than the first one, the whine is still above what I consider acceptable. Yes, I want my camera to take movies with descent sound recording (especially for this price)! I specifically choose this model because of it movie modes. I very pleased with the image quality though!

The sale person who got to know me quite well these days, tested all his SD500 (IXUS700) and sent 6 of the back to Canon, this probably represents 20 to 30% of his stock. Now Canon has some whining units to play with.

With a colleague, we tried a few options to digitally attenuate this whine (low pass (~2 khz), band-pass, compression, threshold, etc) and got some success. After talking about the sensitivity of the AGC, which seems to be too high. We suspected that this noise might come from the power supply of the LCD backlight. We suspect that the backlight is powered using a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal and this causes the whine due to a shielding or grounding issue.

To corroborate this conjecture we did 2 movies. The first one with the LCD brightness set to the minimum and another movie with the brightness set to the maximum. And guess what, the whine frequency changes! Too bad we cannot completely switch of the LCD in movie mode. I found the whine with the brightness set to the minimum more acceptable (lower frequency).

I’m very interested in hearing about if others users can reproduce what we experimented by varying the LCD brightness.

Before going for a 4th unit, I’ll wait to see what Canon does with the 6 sent units.

I really hope Canon acknowledge that there is a problem and provide us with an acceptable solution.

That’s my 2 cents,

Chris

[ChiyoDad]

I really hope Canon acknowledge that there is a problem and provide us with an acceptable solution.

I would hope so too but I think it's more likely that they will leave it up to the consumer to decide if it's a matter of concern or not. As noted, some owners do not care for the video mode while others (myself included) bought the SD500 as a convergence-convenience camera so we wouldn't have to carry a both a high-resolution camera and a compact camcorder.

For those in the latter camp, we just need to swap until we get one that works. I imagine this may upset some retailers of the SD500. For myself, if I'm spending almost $500 for a compact camera, I'd like it to perform according to expectations.

Your investigation was very interesting, though. I still have noted a very, very faint whine in my videos so I'll see if I can make it totally disappear. Thanks for posting your discovery. :)

[SnowSpyder86]

I havnt experienced this at all on mine fortunately

[tracks]

Just got my SD500 today. Was on backorder for a month so I assume it's a newer unit from Canon.

The hum is noticeable. Sounds like high frequency white noise.

I havent decided if i plan on taking it back or not.

Edit: just took a few more movies. it's going back. unacceptable, intolerable.

[tracks]

I talked to Canon tech support today. Spoke w/ the manager telling them my issue was that Canon didn't acknowledge there was a problem. He said he would put in paper work and run it up the corporate ladder, but ultimately it was up to corporate to put out a bullentin to alert the reps. He asserted a few things I didn't agree w/, such as video being a secondary and less-important function of the camera, but my response was that the whine was drowning out other sounds-clearly a quality/manuf. issue if not a design flaw.


For those who actually have listened to the movies on their camera to verify if their unit had the defect:

(a) has anyone received a camera w/ no whine?

(b) for those who did exchanges, how many times did it take before you found a whine-free camera?

[ChiyoDad]

For those who actually have listened to the movies on their camera to verify if their unit had the defect:

(a) has anyone received a camera w/ no whine?

(b) for those who did exchanges, how many times did it take before you found a whine-free camera?

Mine still has a slight whine but it is notably reduced from my first SD500. It took me one swap to get a reduced-whine camera.

I may still return it and instead get a Powershot S2. I need a better convergence cam-camcorder and don't need 7.1Mp. I love the SD500's small size but I also want good functionality.

[creamypanda]

I bought my SD500 two weeks ago from BestBuy.($427)

It have been exchanged 11 times from 5 different stores.
I have basically given up and stayed with the current one,
number 12. All have the same level of whining noise.'
Their serial numbers were all very close to each other,
since they all came from BestBuy stores within 10 minutes
of each other.

My question is, are all the returned SD500 going to
refurbished stock later on???

[JTL]

I talked to Canon tech support today. Spoke w/ the manager telling them my issue was that Canon didn't acknowledge there was a problem. He said he would put in paper work and run it up the corporate ladder, but ultimately it was up to corporate to put out a bullentin to alert the reps. He asserted a few things I didn't agree w/, such as video being a secondary and less-important function of the camera, but my response was that the whine was drowning out other sounds-clearly a quality/manuf. issue if not a design flaw.


For those who actually have listened to the movies on their camera to verify if their unit had the defect:

(a) has anyone received a camera w/ no whine?

(b) for those who did exchanges, how many times did it take before you found a whine-free camera?Mine has very low whine, but the volume changes based on what software I use to play back the video. Ironically, Windows Media Player is the quietest and Windows Movie Maker is the loudest...but on both it's still barely noticable...but it is there...

[crooner]

What an invaluable thread!
I took my time deciding between the SD500 and the Nikon Coolpix 7900 and ultimately went with the SD500.

And despite all my high hopes that I’d get a whine-free camera, the whine is there at an unacceptable level. It's very high pitched and is present no matter what environment I shoot in. This is so very disappointing as the stills this camera takes are fantastic.

I'm leaving now to get my second one. The store claims to have three in stock... I wonder of they'd permit me to check all three if needed... :confused:

FWIW, I did call Canon and got the party line response: They don't know of any issues and their units exhibit no whine and it's probably my computer that is causing the noise. Gee, thanks for the support.

If this next round of exchanges doesn't land me a whine-free model, I think I’ll give that Coolpix 7900 a shot.

I'll post my results. Wish me luck! ;)

[crooner]

Utterly unbelievable.

I called the Best Buy where I purchased the SD500 to find they had none left in stock. Another, equidistant location had three, so I headed there. Confident in my übergeek-dom and ability to explain this documented phenomenon, I approached the customer service area. The first woman I spoke to was pouting and unpleasant to say the least. When I explained that the camera had a defect, what the nature of this issue was and that I was not the first (by far) to report this problem, she simply turned away and left me there for about ten minutes.
Finally another support person, "Tony," who works for both BB AND the Geek Squad outlet now prevalent in many BB stores, approached me and demanded the explanation again. He seemed completely disinterested and had the bed side manner of someone late for something they would much rather be doing. Far from the kind of service I would expect from ANY retail chain. When he stated that he did not consider this to be a defect and implied that I was trying to "hustle" the store for free use of a digicam I pointed out that I had bought the thing less than 24 hours before.

Regardless of my detailed description and offer to show him this very thread, he insisted on tearing open virtually every sealed item in the box I had painstakingly re-packed in some frantic attempt to get the camera operational. After his fifth shot at trying to force the SD card in the slot improperly, he accepted my assistance. It seemed he was intent on recording a movie and then attempted to listen back for the whine from the camera’s playback speaker.

Counting to ten silently, I produced my own PowerBook G4 as a test mule, along with my third party, in-ear headphones that I use with my iPod photo. (You would think that a guy standing in front of you with a PowerBook and an iPod would be fairly good on his word regarding all things geek, wouldn’t you?)

Well, my mistake was not copying the noisy movie files from my desktop Mac to my PowerBook, as he then played back what he shot in the very loud store. With tons of ambient noise, the whine was faint, but still noticeable. Not, however, enough for "Tony," who then excused himself for another fifteen minutes.

Later, another tech came out and made me go through the diatribe a third time. He concluded that I would be able to exchange the camera. I thanked him profusely and humbly asked if I might swap out the fully charged battery in the first unit for the uncharged one in the as-yet unseen, new unit, thus allowing me to instantly test the camera. If this second model exhibited the same problem, I would just opt for a refund and not attempt to run through their entire stock.

He said that seemed fine and walked away. Then my pal, "Tony" returned to tell me that a supervisor would be over soon to make a decision. I exaggerate not a whit when I say I waited at that <censored> counter for another twenty minutes before "Jessica" appeared. It seemed she was not in the least interested in hearing what I had to say. All she would do is repeat, in a monotone voice, that she and the techs had concluded that there was nothing wrong with the camera and that no refund or exchange would be accepted. At all.

I fought to keep my composure as I offered to shoot a short movie in a quiet area to better exemplify the issue.

Nope. There are no quiet areas a customer is allowed to enter.

How about I go and shoot a movie in the silence of my own car and then come back and play it on my own laptop?

Nope. Please step away from the counter.

That's when I snapped. I asked for "Tony's" last name as well as hers. She refused to give the information and then "Tony" approached me and demanded to know why I wanted his info. I explained that I intended to contact both BB and the Geek Squad to inform them of how rude, unpleasant, unhelpful and disinterested in helping a customer he was. He began to argue that I, in fact, was the one with issues. At this point I could take no more and slammed my fist on the counter and yelled (at the top of my lungs, mind you, turning every head in the store) that he should not direct another word at me.

I then packed up the items that he had so carelessly unpacked and prepared to leave.

"Shame on all of you," was all I could muster as I walked out.

I then drove to the Best Buy I purchased the camera at with the full intention of just returning the thing. I didn't care that they had no others in stock. I wanted OUT from BB.
I had some similar problems with the demeanor of the staff there, but fortunately, the salesman I dealt with was there and offered his two cents that I had, indeed, warned him at the point of sale that this may very well happen. Finally, they agreed to exchange it. I wanted to laugh by this point.

"You have no other units in stock. Furthermore, I don't want another. I want MY MONEY BACK so I can leave and never darken the doorstep of any Best Buy again."

That’s when they hit me with the 15% restocking fee.

"It's defective! I gingerly reminded the multi-pierced child across the counter. Finally (FINALLY) I was granted a full refund and sped outa there as fast as feet and tires would carry me...

... straight to Ritz Camera. There I told two patient, articulate and knowledgeable salespeople about my morning, to their disbelief.

"Man, if you had come to us in the first place and then wanted to return it, exchange it or swap to for another model, we would have had only one response... "Sure thing," Rob, the Ritz Camera guy said.

I played him a movie that I did, after all, film in my car (ignition off) after leaving BB and he was astounded at the level of the whine. Unfortunately, he also noticed how beautiful the video quality was. I was disheartened to agree. That said, I plunked down the plastic for a Coolpix 7900 and left.

I have been running it through the rings for the last couple of hours and I hate to admit it, but the SD500 is a better camera in all things except for that damn whine!

At this point I don’t know what to do. I might see if Rob would let me buy an SD500 and then return one or the other after a week. I feel that only a side by side, in-home test will satisfy me now.

This whole experience has really taken the fun out of what should have been a great new toy buying spree.

Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, etc.? I'm spent (in more ways than one) right now and my mind is mush.

Sorry for the rant.

[brighton630]

wow....can feel your pain totally crooner, with the BB experience... made more scary coz I myself just bought a SD500 from them. It came 2 days ago, w/ the whine @ no charge. :-(

Anyway, I've been struggling to find a way to get around this issue, since:

1. it's a fantastic camera otherwise
2. no BB store has stock for an exchange
3. it was a very good deal price-wise
4. issues with trying to exchange, as crooner demonstrated.

I wanted to see about some sort of video editing software that will enable audio noise filtering. It has to be cheap, otherwise what's the point? I've already spent hundreds on the camera...

After much searching, I've found it. It is called VirtualDub, an open-source project free under sourceforge GPL. I just got done trying it out, and it works! You can download it here, and try for yourself:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Virtualdub

Couple of usage tips:

1. use an audio low-pass filer: Audio->Full Processing Mode; Audio->Use Advanced Filtering; Audio->Filters...; now add input, low-pass, and output boxes. use configure on the low-pass filter to set the cut-off freq. I found 3800Hz worked pretty well. YMMV.

2. you can use various video compression plug-ins to compress the output, or just use direct stream copy. I found the direct copy best.

with a single pass, the whine is gone! and it's beautiful. :-)

[JTL]

wow....can feel your pain totally crooner, with the BB experience... made more scary coz I myself just bought a SD500 from them. It came 2 days ago, w/ the whine @ no charge. :-(

Anyway, I've been struggling to find a way to get around this issue, since:

1. it's a fantastic camera otherwise
2. no BB store has stock for an exchange
3. it was a very good deal price-wise
4. issues with trying to exchange, as crooner demonstrated.

I wanted to see about some sort of video editing software that will enable audio noise filtering. It has to be cheap, otherwise what's the point? I've already spent hundreds on the camera...

After much searching, I've found it. It is called VirtualDub, an open-source project free under sourceforge GPL. I just got done trying it out, and it works! You can download it here, and try for yourself:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Virtualdub

Couple of usage tips:

1. use an audio low-pass filer: Audio->Full Processing Mode; Audio->Use Advanced Filtering; Audio->Filters...; now add input, low-pass, and output boxes. use configure on the low-pass filter to set the cut-off freq. I found 3800Hz worked pretty well. YMMV.

2. you can use various video compression plug-ins to compress the output, or just use direct stream copy. I found the direct copy best.

with a single pass, the whine is gone! and it's beautiful. :-)Everyone owes you for this one. I Just took my worst sounding video and played around with the settings on Virtualdub. At around 2600 on the low pass filter there was no whine, but suddenly, for the first time, I could hear the "crickets" that some people have mentioned! So, I kept increasing the filter taps quality (I have it at 1000) and the crickets are now gone! The sound is clean. I am going to play with it more tomorrow. Thanks! :)

[crooner]

brighton630,
having used the Coolpix 7900 for the last couple of days, I realized just as you said... the SD500 really is a GREAT camera... and better than the 7900. About the only thing the 7900 has over on the SD500 is the fact that it's easier to hold with one hand and allows for limited (and silent) zooming while shooting video. Nonetheless, even though it doesn't have the whine, its microphone tends to over-attenuate, picking up lots of ambient noise, making things sound louder than they are yet at the same time making voices sound thin and tinny. Go figure. If I had never seen an SD500 I might feel different, but...

Last night I set out to do exactly what you did; try and find a software solution to edit out the whine.
What you found sounds great. Just one problem for me... I'm a Mac user. (Oy.)

At one point I found an application/plugin called SoundSoap that will "learn" the sound you want to get rid of, then allow you to fine tune how much processing it does. It then virtually eliminates the whine. So far so good. Now I just have to find a sound editing application that can utilize SoundSoap without obliterating the video track. :eek:

I'm continuing my search but you definitely found a great work-around. I just want to find a free or low cost solution without having to look at high-end (high learning curve) applications.

One other thing; I called a few Ritz Cameras and all but one was out of stock. Same for most every other place that carries the SD500. All say they expect shipment and are, in fact, overdue. Could Canon be silently fixing the issue? (Forgive the unintentional pun.)
I found one that I intend to get today to test. It if has the whine, I'll try one more exchange with the next shipment that comes in just to see.

I'll post my findings as well as what software I find in case there are other Mac-geeks out there in our situation.

[tracks]

Thanks for the tip on using a filter.

For my own usage, i'm not sure how I feel about using a low-pass filter. Sure, it might remove most or all the whine-noise, but it also removes everything else in that frequency range. 1000hz, or even 3800hz at even 12db/octave is going remove a lot of audio. It's a good bandaid but seems to come into the realm of not worth it for my usage. Having said that, i do suspect there isn't much desirable in the high-freq range any how when the audio seems to be such low fidelity to begin with.


Incidentally, i did have a conversation with canon supervisor. I attacked from two sides (1) this IS a very well documented issue, and (2) I am upset that the tier 1 support denied ever hearing of the problem.

He at first argued that it was by design and the video mode was only supplemental to the camera--it wasn't intended to be hifi. I told him there was no chance canon engineers would release a camera w/ this amount of whine and it certainly a QA issue in manufacturing. I also mentioned that there are plenty of video samples available to demonstrate.

I was firm and polite and didn't waive from my points. I made it clear that I wasn't calling for help w/ the camera I just purchased because the problem is systemic and my purpose in calling was to get Canon to acknowledge and address the issue. He took down my information and said he would send it to corporate. He said it was a system called customer voice (or something similar to that), that allowed customers to voice their concerns to corporate/engineering via customer support.

I havent received my return yet from Dell. I plan to try it only once and if it doesn't work out, give up on the SD500. There is always something better on the horizon.

[ElectroMach]

Just got back from Cancun and my brothers beach side wedding. Shot a lot of pic's with the SD500 and several videos as well. Loved the picture quality, but when I got back home and put every thing on a DVD the video during the wedding had the whine. Did not think a point and shoot camera could take this good of video, traded the SD500 for a S2 today.

[brighton630]

Crooner, sorry the software won't work for you and other Mac users. Please let us know how it works out in the end, with software and the other store's inventory.

Tracks and others, I know exactly what you mean about this audio filtering things. Exactly what am I losing besides the whine...? In my search, I've tried other software (trail versions of SW costing $xx - $xxx) that turned the audio "tinny", altered the voice tone, etc. or just plain too complex. Disappointing.... But this Virtualdub really works, too well, even. It's not perfect, maybe even buggy... but it's simple to use, and most importantly, works w/o altering the audio... so far as I can tell. Try it and see. I was nicely surprised and maybe you will be too.

with such an expensive investment, it's a shame that consumers have to invest yet more effort into post-processing to take care of problems like this. On the other hand, most people will do some amount of photo editing (crop, red-eye,..), so I guess doing video edits are not asking too much. The keys here are price, easy of use, and how well it works. In the end, everyone must decide for themselves if this work-around is for him/her. If my local BB store has stock, I probably would at least try a swap or two. As it is, the noise filter is likely my best option personally.

[Ruffian29]

"It's defective! I gingerly reminded the multi-pierced child across the counter. Finally (FINALLY) I was granted a full refund and sped outa there as fast as feet and tires would carry me...

... straight to Ritz Camera. There I told two patient, articulate and knowledgeable salespeople about my morning, to their disbelief.

"Man, if you had come to us in the first place and then wanted to return it, exchange it or swap to for another model, we would have had only one response... "Sure thing," Rob, the Ritz Camera guy said.

I played him a movie that I did, after all, film in my car (ignition off) after leaving BB and he was astounded at the level of the whine. Unfortunately, he also noticed how beautiful the video quality was. I was disheartened to agree. That said, I plunked down the plastic for a Coolpix 7900 and left.

I have been running it through the rings for the last couple of hours and I hate to admit it, but the SD500 is a better camera in all things except for that damn whine!

At this point I don’t know what to do. I might see if Rob would let me buy an SD500 and then return one or the other after a week. I feel that only a side by side, in-home test will satisfy me now.

This whole experience has really taken the fun out of what should have been a great new toy buying spree.

Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, etc.? I'm spent (in more ways than one) right now and my mind is mush.

Sorry for the rant.

I was reading through this post and I just wanted to say sorry for your BB experience. I actually think you handled it rather well, better than I would have anyways.
I bought my camera from Ritz also, after reading a few posts about BB, and just because when I went to talk to Ritz people they were SO knowledgable and SO helpful and offered an AMAZING warrenty for only $60 (one years worth, but its worth it).

Hope you have better luck with them.
I opted for the SD300, I really didn't have the money for the 500 and the video horror stories were a turn off...

[ChiyoDad]

I wanted to see about some sort of video editing software that will enable audio noise filtering. It has to be cheap, otherwise what's the point? I've already spent hundreds on the camera...

After much searching, I've found it. It is called VirtualDub, an open-source project free under sourceforge GPL. I just got done trying it out, and it works! You can download it here, and try for yourself:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Virtualdub

Couple of usage tips:

1. use an audio low-pass filer: Audio->Full Processing Mode; Audio->Use Advanced Filtering; Audio->Filters...; now add input, low-pass, and output boxes. use configure on the low-pass filter to set the cut-off freq. I found 3800Hz worked pretty well. YMMV.

2. you can use various video compression plug-ins to compress the output, or just use direct stream copy. I found the direct copy best.

with a single pass, the whine is gone! and it's beautiful. :-)


My SD500 still has a slight whine so I'll be trying this software. Thanks!

BTW, has anyone else noticed a shortage of SD500s on the market? It seems that some retailers don't have it in stock and it seems to be more a matter of supply rather than demand.

[crooner]

Good news regarding software fixes for Mac users. Well, good news and bad news...

Good news? SoundSoap 2 from Bias Inc. This *will* work for Windows users, too. The software is amazingly simply, ridiculously powerful and effective. Check out this demo movie from their site showing what it can do:

http://www.bias-inc.com/soap2movie/

The bad news is that it will cost you $99. But, considering how cool it is, I consider it well worth the investment.

BTW, has anyone else noticed a shortage of SD500s on the market? It seems that some retailers don't have it in stock and it seems to be more a matter of supply rather than demand.

Absolutely. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, I think this *may* indicate that Canon is hopefully addressing the issue. Ritz camera expects some tomorrow and I will be very eager to test out a new unit. If the whine is still present, I'm going to return the Coolpix 7900 I got and keep the SD500 and learn to adore SoundSoap. The 7900 is much more comfortable to use as far as ergonomics are concerned, but the SD500 is superior in every other way.

And, yes, the Ritz camera extended service plan is great. :D

[SLr8]

I read this thread and decided to see if the whine was present on my SD400. Unfortunately there is a whine but it is almost unnoticeable when I am recording conversations or some other sounds. It is only very noticeable to me when I record in a soundless (or near soundless) environment. I bought this camera as a camera and not as a camcorder, not to mention I think it would be too much trouble to try to return or exchange this camera since I ordered it from in online store. Also I only have a 512mb capacity sandisk so recording movies is not an issue by lack of sufficient space. Therefore I came to the conclusion that it is no biggie.

[ChiyoDad]

After much searching, I've found it. It is called VirtualDub, an open-source project free under sourceforge GPL. I just got done trying it out, and it works! You can download it here, and try for yourself:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Virtualdub

Couple of usage tips:

1. use an audio low-pass filer: Audio->Full Processing Mode; Audio->Use Advanced Filtering; Audio->Filters...; now add input, low-pass, and output boxes. use configure on the low-pass filter to set the cut-off freq. I found 3800Hz worked pretty well. YMMV.


I tried 3000Hz on one of my older (and worst) video but noticed that I lost some crispness in the sound. Any idea of what settings might eliminate the hum without affecting that?

[crooner]

I tried 3000Hz on one of my older (and worst) video but noticed that I lost some crispness in the sound. Any idea of what settings might eliminate the hum without affecting that?

ChiyoDad,
at the risk of repeating myself, check out SoundSoap. I don't know if they offer a demo, but it works magic.

http://www.bias-inc.com/soap2movie/

Hope this helps.

[ChiyoDad]

ChiyoDad,
at the risk of repeating myself, check out SoundSoap. I don't know if they offer a demo, but it works magic.


Thanks crooner! I had read those posts and strongly suspect that SoundSoap would be a superior solution.

It's just that I'm a tightwad. ;)

Besides, I may yet exchange my SD500 one more time if the sudden tightness in SD500 supply is being caused by Canon reacting to the hum/whine issue with a fix. No sense in living with even a faint whine if there's an opportunity for absolutely no whine.

[brighton630]

I tried 3000Hz on one of my older (and worst) video but noticed that I lost some crispness in the sound. Any idea of what settings might eliminate the hum without affecting that?

As another poster noted, increasing the filter tap quality in Virtualdub may help. Also, try playing around with various cut-freq too. I found 3800Hz worked for me, but I had to play around that number for other videos as well. That, and maybe SoundSoap. Hopefully one will work for you.

One more data point about this whine....

My once whiny SD500 is now *almost* tame. The whine is still there, but you'll have to look for it. It's almost like static now. Odd.... The whine was all you can hear on the first movie. At least one other on this thread posted such behavior too. Why the change?

Then I remember while reading the manual, it had some obscure note about the camera having an internal Li-ion battery that's *CHARGED!!!* by the main battery. The manual went on about needing to leave the main batt in to charge the internal batt upon receiving the camera, as it is likely drained by now.

Could it be that the very fact the camera contains charging circuitry, and that when something is being charged, this voltage circuit could radiate such a whine-humm, easy. Not enough for you to hear, but easy to pick up by the internal sensitive mic. Laptop charger, or any power cube will exhibit this behavior. This could explain why it's most noticable initially. After the internal batt is charged, the whine-humm is reduced. It's still there somewhat since the charging cycle is still there, albeit minimal.

Anyway, it's just a theory.....

[ChiyoDad]

Could it be that the very fact the camera contains charging circuitry, and that when something is being charged, this voltage circuit could radiate such a whine-humm, easy. Not enough for you to hear, but easy to pick up by the internal sensitive mic. Laptop charger, or any power cube will exhibit this behavior. This could explain why it's most noticable initially. After the internal batt is charged, the whine-humm is reduced. It's still there somewhat since the charging cycle is still there, albeit minimal.

Anyway, it's just a theory.....

What you're theorizing makes sense. I tried a casual test with my SD500 which has been sitting around unused with its battery installed for a couple of days. The faint whine is still there at the same level. I think we'll need to see if other users experience any success.

BTW, thanks for the suggestions. I'll tool around a bit with the filters. Wish there was a useful online guide. Sound engineering is not a specialty of mine.

[ProblemSolver]

Just my $0.02:

I have both a S500 and SD500 so I tested both out today.

The S500 is silent when the LCD is off or brightness set to minimum or in playback. But when I push the brightness till the maximum level, there is a very slight cricket-like whine (Not only in movie mode but also in other shooting modes). Strange enough, there is no trace of the little whine after recording and playing a movie (Recorded in a very silent condition)

As for my SD500, it does almost the same thing as my S500 except there's a tiny bit of whine in its movies. Still, I don't mind since it's not terribly loud.

[outpost05]

I got an SD500 last week and it definatley had a background hum. I tried that freeware VirtualDub, but by the time I eliminated the hum, you could barely hear the recorded audio.
The store let me swap it out for another. It also has a hum, but at least it seems to be a bit more subdued (more of a background hiss) and does not have the higher pitch modulating hum that the 1st one did.
I have tried different SD cards and various media players. No difference.
In my 1st SD500 I kept a charged battery in all week, so I don't think the internal battery charge theory is the problem.
I rarely record video clips and I really like the camera otherwise, so I'll just keep this one.

[Lycaon]

Same problem here :( I put together a website with some Spectrogram Displays that visually quantify the problem. Notice how the first sample came from Canon.

Canon SD500 Spectrogram Display (http://shark.securenet-server.net/~pocketpc/dpreview/)

[dadof4]

:D Perhaps it is humming as it does not know the words?. :) LOL

[ChiyoDad]

In case anyone's interested, it looks like Costco has restocked on the SD500. Maybe the new batch won't have the whine. If it does, you're still covered by Costco's satisfaction guarantee.

[Luc73]

I own a SD500 and I also noticed the noise.

I'm a computer engineer and my ears tell me that it is caused by quantization errors.

The audio signal is not filtered enough for the low 11 kHz sampling rate.

Is it common for a camera to have such a low rate?

Either they fix the problem by adjusting the audio input filter (maybe a bad capacitor was used) or they increase the sampling rate.

Luc.

[CKY]

dear friends,

i do envy you having such store as Costco that you can return the unsatisfying goods at any time you feel like. We do not have this previlage in Hong Kong.

recently i bought an ixus 700, the repeating sharp humming in the background of the movie turn out to be very annoying, i tried to return it to the shop and they tell me it is normal for ixus 700, ( they let me try another new one and it did have the same sharp whim ) so they cannot accept me to return the good.

i had experiences taking movies with various DCs, e.g. Sony P1, Sony T3, Canon S50, Konica G400, Rollei dk4010; there were never this humming in all of them, so it is just a typical fault for ixus 700.

i had tried an 750 on the road show and it had the same problem, i asked the promoter how this problem can be solved, and he just pretend do not understand what i meant.

another problem i found is that in " Auto mode " the focus is so uncontrollable that it is just impossible to put the focus on the decided object, finally i had to give up and use the " manual mode " with center focusing.

today i hand the ixus 700 to the service center, and the lady there tried to persuade me that the " back ground noise " it is normal for DC, and that i should use " scene mode " instead of "auto mode " if i want to get into specific focus. Only after my insisting that she accept to take the camera and have their engineer to check it out. I believe when they return the camera to me, the problem will remain and they will just tell me everything is just normal.

canon cameras may take good photos, but ixus 700/750 are just faulty designs that shoud be recalled from the market.

so it you really want to try an ixus 700 / 750 ( SD 500/SD 550 ), please make sure that your shop can accept your returning it if you do not feel satisfied with it.

good luck.

[ChiyoDad]

i had tried an 750 on the road show and it had the same problem, i asked the promoter how this problem can be solved, and he just pretend do not understand what i meant.


Pretty ridiculous that Canon still can't fix it with the second-generation. The SD500 and SD550 might as well be written off for their movie modes. :(

I can't wait for the SD450 review. If the movie mode for that model is better, I may just trade-down from the SD500 since I haven't found 7.1 megapixels to be that critical for my photography style.