Hi,
My 14-42II R MSC (kit lens with E-PM1) makes a constant ticking sound which is clearly audible in video. I found that the noise goes away when I switch to manual focus, BUT whenever I turn the focus ring the noise comes back even worse than in AF mode.

The noise is not really audible when taking stills, and I don't use video very much. It would be nice, however, to be able to grab a quick video every now and then, without having to worry about a separate audio source, or completely replacing the audio, but that doesn't seem to be an option with this particular lens.

I thought the whole point of the "MSC" designation was that it wasn't supposed to make noises like that. Did I get a bad lens? Should I return it?

thx,
J

You thought right. It's not supposed to make noise that can be heard on the video. I have the MSCII on my E-PL2 and the MSCII-R on my E-PM1 and neither of them have ever made a sound like that. Nor has the MSCII-R on my daughter's E-PM1.

You might want to talk to Olympus about it (or return it, if you're still within the return window. Returning is usually easier if you bought from one of the Big Three [Amazon, Adorama, B&H]).

EDIT: Ooops.... I notice now that you're in London. Don't know what retailer return policies are in GB, so ignore my last sentence above.

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Peace,

Mine makes a quiet hum when shooting video, but only if the autofocus mode is set to C-AF (which it is by default). Turn it to S-AF and it is silent.

But a ticking noise sounds more like a defective lens motor.

DH

here's an example (I hope this works!)

I'd say you have a defective AF motor.

DH

Funny - I was about to write "that sounds faulty" but before I did I went to check mine (on an E-P3). It's exactly the same! Now I'm wondering if mine is defective too or if this is just the way it is. I think I hadn't noticed before because I had video focus set to manual. FWIW I'm in the UK too so if it's defective maybe they are from the same batch? I'll be interested to see how this pans out...

Interesting. After a little more playing it seems to be not related to actual focusing. In low light I can trick the camera into focus failure (all blurred and not trying any more) and the noise continues.

C-AF should make some noise (a very soft humming). The other noise you can sometimes get is from the aperture adjusting, but that only happens if the lighting changes.

DH

The 45mm makes exactly the same sound. Though I can hear a different (additional) buzz of the focusing motor. Strange. Next I'll try my 14-140...

Right, the 14-140 is effectively silent.

All tests were done in fully manual video mode (but with C-AF on) so the aperture should have remained fixed.

Here's another test video, with varying background sound level. You can hear the ticking sound cutting in and out as the background sound level changes.
On the basis of this I'd say it's definitely related to the background noise level / gain, not light level, unlike that PL25 "rattlesnake" issue on the same body.

Olympus E-PM1 Kit lens video noise test - YouTube