BMPCC6K INTERNAL FAN NOISE

Hello everyone,

I just got my pocket 6k and I feel like the internal fan is a bit noisier than it should be. Coming from the 4k where it was just a little breath, here it's a breath plus a little buzzing. Maybe it's normal, 6k cooling etc. But maybe it's a not working fan. I tried another one at the shop, same noise and dysfunctional screen. So I can tell. Is it the first few cameras that are not ok? I sent a request for explanation with an example of the noise by mail but still have no answer. Is anyone here on the forum experiencing the same or having been in the same situation?
Cheers

Same issue. After 2 months of owning a new unit I started getting an abnormal buzzing sound when the fan kicked on. I sent it to BM, interestingly they could not replicate the noise! They said they’ll replace the fan for me and send it back.

I just got my camera last week and there is fan noise that I can hear. It also gets picked up by the internal mics. Is this normal?

Same issue,
my 6K's fan noise has a tiny little buzzing.

Internal mics are only usable for scratch audio, but never for some general ambient sound.

Should I get the camera fixed?

I wouldn't expect any camera with a fan to be noiseless on the internal mics.

I wouldn't expect any camera with a fan to be noiseless on the internal mics.

That is what I thought too, until I saw this thread.

I am already working with a Zoom H1 on every camera rig, as far away from the fan as possible, for ambient sound at every camera's location.
But it would have been nice to be able to use the cameras' mics for that purpose.

On the other hand, since I am thinking about putting a Rode Stereo Video Mic X or a MKE 440 on each rig, I will never even use the built in mics anyways.

Time will tell if the fan gets louder at some point and will need to be replaced.

Don’t be so sure that’s a perfect solution. It’s a step in the right direction, but getting the external mics away from the camera is the next step although you may still plug them into the camera’s audio inputs for your recording in-camera. Feeding those mics into an external recorder like the MixPre-6 II will likely provide better audio once again due to the quality of the preamps and very low noise floor.

When looking at numbers, such as noise floor or dynamic range, reality is blurred. Best to try equipment and judge it’s performance in real situations.


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Rick,
of course I never intended to imply that a Zoom H1 is a perfect solution.

A MixPre-3 II and a nice mic setup for every camera would surely get you much better material to start with in post.

Although saying "nice mic setup" is very vague.
A pair of LineAudio CM4s in XY position plus a MKH8070, or what have you, for a good, focused mono source is definitively much better than a H1.

I even sometimes use my vintage M/S setup giving the amazing character of a Sennheiser MKH 70 P48 shotgun combined with an AKG C414 B-TL II set to figure 8 for the sides.

Heck, an ambisonic setup on each camera would give incredible flexibility for many delivery formats from stereo to 10.2 surround.
I do not own ambisonic mics and not every project needs or can afford this quality and flexibility.

So a Zoom H1 on every camera to get rid of fan noise is a good solution in many cases.
Together with separate channels of a console via Dante or direct to SSD, or whatever is possible for a given concert for example, or together with all lav mics and other sources on a MixPre-10 and/or on individual TASCAM DR-10Cs, the ambient sound from a Zoom H1 is an adequate and cost effective solution for many projects.

Fan noise can be a real problem in quiet places. Earlier this year I shot an interview in a reverberant room with wooden floors and walls using my Micro Cinema Camera (which also has active cooling) and even though I used a separate standalone recorder and supercardioid mic (placed nearly three meters away from the camera) I could still hear the fan noise in the recording and had to denoise it in post.

De-noising in RX for example gives very clean results as long as the program signal is high enough above the noise floor.
With mics as far as 3 meters from the camera removing whatever is still picked up of the fan should be easy to remove without any impact on the quality of the program sound.

I cleaned up much worse recordings with very clean results.

Brad, interesting results picking up the fan.

For Sunday’s recording I’m going to use the BMPCC4K instead of the URSA Mini 4.6K as it is quieter. I’ll have my Sennheiser MKH416 on a mic stand going into the unattended MixPre-6 II and I think I can place them several meters away from the camera at the back of the theatre. I think the rustle of the audience will be louder than a fan! Both camera and recorder will have dedicated Tentacle Sync. I’ll start the recorder well before the camera and only turn it off and on during the intermission as I need to operate the camera. Will go with 32bit audio as I can’t monitor levels.

I might even wear my AVX in order to record some commentary before and after the acts. Won’t be using the Line Audio CM-4 mics for this shoot since the theatre is also recording the orchestra.

The MKH416 allows me to capture the sound as the audience hears it; important to do that as the mics on the actors do not pickup the audience—you need both to give a recording the feeling of it being live.


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The MKH416 allows me to capture the sound as the audience hears it; important to do that as the mics on the actors do not pickup the audience—you need both to give a recording the feeling of it being live.

I guess my only concern about that approach is that you're going to get a mono recording with no stereo image, and the sounds to either side of the shotgun could sound pretty muddy. A stereo pair like the CM3s or the OM1s if you ended up getting the omnis as well would provide a more realistic sense of being there.

The MKH416 allows me to capture the sound as the audience hears it

Rick,
when you get good sound of what is happening on the stage, you should not need your ambient mics to pick up the sound from the stage, you might be better off putting a stereo pair from the stage in the direction of the audience, but as far away from the stage as possible.

I get good ambient sound of the audience that way. Just switch between the left and right mic and you even have a stereo image as if the mics are facing the stage.