Metz 48 AF-1 high pitched noise!?

L(2) · 11-05-2009, 08:46 PM

I just imported a new Metz 48 AF-1 from B&H for my k200d.

when the flash unit is turned on, there seems to be a high pitch noise when i put my ear to it. i can hear it quite clearly when i'm looking through the viewfinder. when i turn off the flash unit, the noise stops. the noise is loudest at where the flash's screen is.

the noise is something like when you are in an empty room and you hear ringing noises (if you get what i mean).

is it something to do with the settings? or maybe i got a bad unit? or is it just completely normal? please help!

Ramitt · 11-05-2009, 08:57 PM

My vivitar flash does that, i assumed it was something to do with the capacitors charging or something.

L(2) · 11-05-2009, 09:12 PM

it's different from the whining noise some flash units make when the flash is charging. the 48 af-1 does not produce that sound, according to reviews anyway.
i just hope the sound goes away. it's pretty darn annoying.

KJon · 11-05-2009, 10:06 PM

I don't know if this will make you feel better, but my Metz 48 makes the same sound, albeit it not all the time. I keep trying to figure out if there's something specific to the settings that causes the whine. So far, no luck.

Best,
Kevin

L(2) · 11-05-2009, 11:18 PM

KJon, good to know that it is not only my unit producing the particular noise. lucky for me, when i'm out and about i can forget about small things like this.

Arpe · 11-06-2009, 12:28 AM

Just turned mine on, and no noise, not even when charging. Sorry.

krypticide · 11-06-2009, 10:45 AM

There shouldn't be a capacitor charging sound, but maybe your ears are more sensitive than most and you're hearing something that is driving the LCD screen. Though I'd be surprised it that were high voltage...

*SOldBear* · 11-06-2009, 11:11 AM

All flashes do that; some more annoying than others; some people more sensitive to high-pitched noise than others.

You should hear the noice my Sunpak 555 makes!

L(2) · 11-06-2009, 05:48 PM

yes, maybe i'm more sensitive. high pitched sounds like that always distract me from whatever i am doing. i also note again, it's not the normal whine noise you get with some flashes when the flash is charging.

F-Stop · 11-08-2009, 06:43 PM

I have a high pitched capacitor noise in one of my Metz 48's that I bought used on here. I thought it was the cheap dollar store Duracell batteries I used as I always have rechargeable Rayovac Hybrids instead - Serial: 749213

The one I purchased a year ago Dec. is completely silent at all times but it hasn't seen much use. Serial: 753803

sebberry · 11-15-2009, 12:54 AM

I can easily hear my AF540 charging. It is normal. I don't know what other noise there could be.

*geauxpez* · 11-19-2009, 05:22 PM

My Metz 48 doesn't do that, but My Nikon SB24 flashes did as do my SB28's. The Vivitar flashes I have had were loudest. Watch the first crime scene in Slience of the Lambs and you will really hear it from that flash.

lithos · 11-19-2009, 09:09 PM

It depends on your age and, to some extent, your ethnicity. As we get older, we lose our ability to hear high pitched sounds. Aboriginal Australian's ears have a wider frequency response than Caucasians. I don't know how it works for other races.

What would be interesting is if everyone listed their age and background.

Interesting NYT article here.

It outlines one of the most famous use of this frequency-response disparity. A few years back, a Welsh security company used high-pitched sounds, inaudible to adults, to keep kids from congregating outside shopping centres. It would affect the kids, but not the older people.

Kids used that tone, instead, as a ringtone for use in situations where you wouldn't want adults knowing you had just got a text message (in class, for example.)

The street finds its own uses...

*geauxpez* · Yesterday, 11:46 AM

A little OT, but I will expand a bit in lithos' train of thought. As an audiologist, I work with hearing every day.

Age is a major factor when it comes to hearing high-pitched sounds, but so is genetic predisposition. We will all have hearing loss if we live long enough, but some will start sooner for some than others. The typical pattern (80% or so) for age-related hearing loss is to lose the high frequencies before the lower frequencies.

Another factor for high frequency hearing is the amount of noise exposure a person has had. Noise exposure (whether from loud music, an industrial work setting, firearms, etc) tends to have a pattern of its own: An "notch" in the person's ability to hear in the 3KHz-6KHz, usually worse at 4KHz.

The range of human hearing is thought to be 20Hz-20KHz. On most audiometers that we test with, we test 250Hz through 8KHz because that is where most speech sounds fall and it is difficult to reliably calibrate lower or higher than that.

I just went in a sound booth and the range that most reminds me of the "whine" from a flash capacitor is a 4KHz-8KHz rising tone.

The articles on the high frequency stuff got a lot of attention in my industry. My wife swears that there is a high-pitched whine at one of the grocery stores that we go to and I can never hear it. It may very well be an anti-loitering device.