Chinese phone - background noise (pickup, interference, hum) during a conversation - causes and solutions. How to remove noise, interference or crackling in your headphones
Noise in a photo is eternal problem, which is faced by both novice photography enthusiasts and professionals. Digital noise appears as discrete points of light, darkness, or color that can fill entire areas in a photo. Mobile phone owners who shoot with their gadgets in low light are well aware of this problem. However, owners of advanced SLR cameras are often faced with the fact that contrast points appear on photographic images, which spoil the overall impression of the pictures. In this article, we will talk about how to reduce the effect of noise on photographs when shooting, as well as how to eliminate such small image defects using software tools.
Reducing photo noise when shooting
It should be noted right away that there is always noise in digital photography and this is due to the peculiarities of the photosensitive matrix, which is the basis of any digital camera. However, in most cases the noise level is so low that the human eye is unable to see the image defects. But in some situations, especially when shooting under conditions insufficient lighting, digital noise in the picture is already becoming clearly visible. There are several ways to reduce the effect of noise when shooting:
- Do not use high sensitivity settingsISO
Perhaps the main reason for the appearance of noise in photographs is too high an ISO sensitivity set by the photographer. When shooting in low light without a flash, you have to increase the sensitivity of the matrix to make the photo brighter. However, excessively increasing the ISO value in the camera settings causes the images to become too noisy.
The influence of the ISO value can be assessed by an example, by the zone of the photo inside the red oval (clickable):
Noise suppression
1 of 3
While camera manufacturers are currently working hard to reduce noise at high ISOs, don't mindlessly use extended ISO ranges. It is better to choose the lowest possible or average ISO value, and only after trial photos draw the appropriate conclusions about the need to increase the sensitivity of the matrix. Thus, increase the ISO value only when there is a real need for it.
In low light conditions, try to use fast lenses or flash. As for optics, the wider the aperture is opened, the faster the shutter speed can be made. All this will allow you to take better photos in low light without having to seriously increase the ISO value and, thereby, increase the risk of noise.
- Shoot from a tripod
To reduce noise, it is advisable to use a tripod or monopod on which you can mount a digital camera. This is especially true for those situations when you shoot any static objects in low light conditions. Using a tripod will allow the camera's sensor sensitivity settings to be set to their lowest setting, which in turn will reduce the chance of digital noise appearing in pictures.
— Protecting the camera from overheating
It's no secret that digital noise starts to show up more when the sensor of a digital camera gets hot. A simple rule applies here - the higher the temperature of the matrix, the more noise in the photo image. In this regard, try not to shoot for a long time in hot conditions, high humidity and exposure to direct sunlight, and also not to use too long shutter speeds unnecessarily.
Also, be aware that when using LiveView in digital SLR cameras the photosensitive matrix works not only during the exposure of the frame, but also a little longer, which can lead to its additional heating. Therefore, do not abuse shooting in this mode, give your camera's sensor time to cool down.
— Shooting inRAW
It is preferable to shoot in RAW format. This format contains more information than JPEG, so you have more opportunities to get a high-quality image. In addition, you can reduce the noise on the photo image already when converting RAW files using software for image processing.
Modern digital cameras are equipped with various noise reduction functions, however, the software algorithms used in them are far from perfect and do not always correctly suppress noise. Often the use of such a function leads to a loss small parts Images. In addition, if your camera has already removed some of the noise, this can make it difficult to further process and refine the photo on a computer.
How to Remove Noise from a Photo in Photoshop
Using the capabilities of one of the graphic editors, you can safely remove digital noise from a photo. AT Adobe Photoshop this procedure is usually performed through the regular Reduce Noise filter (via the menu Filter - Noise - Reduce Noise). Before processing the image, you need to open it in Photoshop and duplicate it (Layers - Duplicatelayer). Thanks to this, at the end of the work on removing noise, you can always compare the original with the processed image. After opening the Reduce Noise filter, you start working in (Basic) mode, where the following parameters will be available:
- Intensity or strength (Strength). This parameter provides a reduction in luminance noise - the more to the right you move the slider, the more the noise will be attenuated. The main thing here is not to overdo it, so that along with digital noise, various small details do not disappear from the photo.
- Save details (Preserve Details). By adjusting this slider, you can restore the small details of the photo image that have disappeared, but keep in mind that noise will also return to the photo. Here you will have to find the optimal balance between keeping the small details of the photo and putting up with the presence of a certain level of noise, and completely eliminating the noise, putting up with the loss of some details.
- Reduce color noise (Reduce Color Noise). This option is used to remove color spots from a photo.
- Details of sharpness (Sharpen Details). With this option, you can try to restore the sharpness of the photo image, which, of course, deteriorates with the reduction of digital noise.
1 of 2
ISO 25600 - after noise reduction
Experiment with the settings, then go to additional regime the same filter (Advanced). Here you can reduce the noise in a single channel thanks to the Per Channel tab. For each channel, you can change the same above-mentioned parameters "Intensity" and "Keep details".
Pick up optimal settings filter for a specific photo image. If you need to get rid of the so-called luminance noise, that is, small elements in the photo that have differences in brightness, then you can start with following settings: Intensity - 9 - 10, Preservation of details - 3 - 6%. If you are dealing with chromatic noise (the presence of colored spots in the photo), then you can set the following value Reduce Color Noise - 70 - 100%.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the extent of the problem of digital noise in photographic images is often exaggerated by the photographers themselves, who simply do not want to see any "defects" in their pictures. However, you need to remember that when viewing a picture at 100% scale on a computer monitor, you will see noise several times larger in area than in the same photograph posted, for example, in an online photo album. In addition to this, any universal algorithms Noise removal does not currently exist. This means that noise suppression or its elimination by software somehow leads to a partial loss of fine details, deterioration in color accuracy and photo sharpness. Therefore, you should not strive to always completely remove noise in your photographic images, in most cases it will be enough to simply reduce it to an acceptable level. Although if you plan to do commercial or stock photography, then you will have to be more strict about the technical side of the pictures and similar minor defects in photographic images.
Causes of noise in headphones:
You connected your headphones to a computer or laptop, and instead of pleasant and beloved music, you hear an annoying hiss or crackle, who would like that? At the same time, you do not understand why there is noise in the headphones, where it came from and what to do with it.
The most frustrating thing about the effect of noise in the headphones is that it is very difficult to find out what caused it and how to eliminate it. There can be many reasons for crackling in headphones, the usual algorithm for finding the cause of poor headphone performance is to sequentially search through potential noise sources, exclude or isolate them and further check. In theory, this looks simple, but in practice, such an algorithm is completely impossible to implement.
For example, you have only one computer that is connected to an outlet that is embedded in concrete wall, the apartment has been renovated and it is impossible to install a computer in another place, or another room, because there is no place for him. And therefore, we are unable to exclude all possible causes of extraneous noise in the headphones.
However, we can start with the simplest and most obvious potential causes of headphone interference, and if checking them fails, we can only hope that this problem will fix itself in the future. For example, the neighbors will turn off the puncher, or after a while you will buy a voltage stabilizer through which you will connect the computer.
So, let's start searching for the cause of the hiss in the headphones.
Cable damage is a very common cause of hiss and pops in headphones.
Let's start with the simplest and most common cause of extraneous noise in headphones - a damaged cable or poor contact in the jack.
Carefully examine the headphone cable, it must be absolutely intact, there must be the same density throughout its entire length. Feel the entire cable with your hands, perhaps there was an interruption in some place inside the cable, or once you bent the cable too much and the copper wires inside it broke.
If, after a visual and tactile check, the cable does not raise suspicions, check the jack, its joints and the audio jack itself into which you plug the headphones.
Check how well you insert the jack into the socket, it should go in easily, with a slight click and stay firmly in it. The jack must enter the nest to the end, there should not be a visible part of the jack.
Sometimes, due to the structural features of the nest, about 1 mm of the jack remains visible, but no more and this is a rare phenomenon.
Bad contact is one of the most common causes of noise and crackling in headphones. Wipe the jack dry soft cloth, perhaps it is dirty or covered with a layer of oxide.
If the wire does not cause suspicion and the jack is connected to the socket securely, but the noise remains, you need to continue the search.
The technical condition of the headphones - a possible cause of white noise
After checking the wire and jack did not work, you must definitely check the headphones themselves.
Carefully inspect them, they may have recently fallen on a hard surface, cracks or other signs of damage have appeared on the case.
Be sure to try connecting your headphones to another audio source, such as a phone, TV, or tablet.
It is very important to understand and establish that the cause of white noise in the headphones is not the headphones themselves, but the device to which they are connected.
If the white noise disappears when connected to another device, then the headphones themselves are in order along with the wire and jack, and we proceed to further search for the occurrence of crackling.
Inexpensive speakers can cause headphone noise
If the noise in the headphones occurs when connected to a computer or laptop that is connected to inexpensive multimedia speakers at the same time, the first thing to try is to turn off the speakers and check if the noise in the headphones has disappeared.
The fact is that inexpensive speakers are assembled from cheap elements, but most importantly, when they are assembled, they save a lot on soldering, wires and the general level of construction. Therefore, poor contacts or short circuits may occur inside the speakers, which will interfere with the entire electrical circuit, as a result of which extraneous noise may appear in the headphones.
Speakers must be turned off completely, not just turned off their power.
If completely disconnecting the speakers from the computer did not resolve the noise in the headphones, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.
Lack of grounding is the most common cause of noise in headphones when connected to a computer
For some reason unknown to me, in many homes sockets are not grounded. In general, this is not so scary, traditional Appliances such as irons, heaters, filters and air conditioners are working normally. But as soon as you connect equipment that is very sensitive to the quality of the power supply to an ungrounded electrical network, problems immediately pop up.
A computer connected to an ungrounded outlet is a direct road not only to noise in the headphones, but also possible reason failure of the computer as a whole due to exposure to static electricity.
The normal way to solve this problem is to ground the outlet that the computer is connected to. But doing it yourself is not easy, if not impossible. To do this, you need to call an electrician, however, in this case, most likely, you will have to shift the wiring throughout the apartment, and this is already a serious repair.
There is an easy way to check if grounding really helps eliminate noise in the headphones - throw a wire from the computer to the battery.
You need to take the usual copper wire small section, on both sides with bare contacts. Lean one end against the computer case (preferably against its back wall), and the other against the battery. Leaning the wire to the painted part of the battery is useless, you need to lean it against the metal of the battery, so you have to look for such a place. Usually bare metal can be found on the back of the battery.
If you did everything right, and the noise is gone or significantly reduced, then it's about grounding.
Remember: you can not count the ground through the battery permanent solution. Such grounding can lead to a complete failure of the entire computer, it is enough for your neighbor to ground serious equipment to the battery, as the computer, having received a powerful discharge of electricity to the case, will fail. This is just a test, nothing more.
But what if you know for sure that the sockets are grounded, and the test with the wire did not work? We continue to search for cod in the headphones.
Microphone noise is one of the many causes of interference in headphones.
We have considered the possible sources of the problem of noise in the headphones, which relate to material interference, but now we are left with problems that relate to the setup of computer equipment.
One of the most common causes of noise in headphones is noise from the microphone of the sound card.
Even if a microphone is not connected to your sound card, there may be noise from the microphone jack.
In order to test this hypothesis, you need to go to the volume settings of your sound card, find the slider that controls the microphone volume level and lower it to zero. Or, if possible, turn off the sound from the microphone altogether.
If the microphone input was the cause of the noise in the headphones, then muting the sound from it should completely correct the situation.
In order to get to the microphone volume settings, open the control panel, find the item "Hardware and Sound" and go into it.
Now find the point "Sound" and go into it.
In the sound settings window, go to the tab "Record", then find the active microphone (in my case it is the Sound Blaster ZxR microphone), select it and click on the button "Properties" in the lower right corner.
In the new window, find the tab "Levels", and either move the microphone volume slider as far as possible to the left until its value reaches zero, or click on the blue speaker icon, which is located to the right of the volume level indicator. A red crossed out sign should appear next to the speaker. This icon will indicate that the microphone is completely disabled on the system. It is preferable to turn it off, and not just lower the volume level.
One type of problem with the microphone input or the microphone itself is its high sensitivity. This problem can be solved by turning on the microphone noise reduction mode.
Almost all modern sound cards have this mode. If you find out that the microphone is the cause of the crackling, but you need it, then try turning on the noise reduction mode if it is available. This should fix the issue.
A problem with the volume level of sound sources in the sound card can cause hiss in the headphones
Not only microphone interference can cause hiss in the headphones, the same interference can also be caused by adjacent sound card inputs.
Depending on the model of the sound card, it may have additional inputs for connecting additional equipment. They may have the following names:
- What U Hear
- Line in
- S/PDIF
Any of them, under certain circumstances, can become a source of interference. In the same way that you lowered the microphone volume, you need to reduce or completely turn off the sound from all these sockets.
To do this, go to the Windows Control Panel.
Then find the item there "Hardware and Sound".
Then click on the section "Sound".
In the new window, go to the "Playback" tab, select active speakers (a device that plays sound in headphones in this moment) and click on the "Property" button.
Next, I can’t take a screenshot, because. in my case, the volume level of all inputs and outputs is regulated through a special software that controls my Sound Blaster sound card, in your case, most likely, a tab will be available "Levels", by going into which you can disable all inputs and outputs of your sound card.
To check, leave only the headphone output on, and all other possible exits and inputs mute or lower their volume to zero.
If the headphone hiss problem was at one of these points, it should go away.
Volume level - paradoxical, but true, it can cause noise in the headphones
In some cases, the volume level may cause interference in the headphones.
Sometimes it happens that the headphones have their own volume control, plus there is an additional volume control in Windows, and there is also a volume control in the application from which you are listening to the sound (game, player).
For any hardware that has its own hardware volume control to work well, you need to make sure that all software volume controls (especially the main volume slider in Windows) are set to 100%. And the final volume control is done precisely with the help of a hardware volume control.
To eliminate the hiss, follow these steps:
- Completely turn off the sound in the headphones using the hardware control (buttons or knobs on the headphones themselves)
- Set Windows Volume to 100%
- Set the app volume to 100%
- Start to gradually increase the volume on the headphones and bring it to a comfortable level.
The fact is that software volume controls artificially reduce the sound volume, after which you have to turn the volume up to the maximum in headphones in order to listen to it at a comfortable level. However, for any technique, be it headphones, speakers or a car engine, long work at the limit of the possible, it is extremely detrimental to the characteristics and properties of the unit.
By setting the hardware volume to maximum on the headphones, you amplify all the noise that comes from the computer, plus you add the distortion that appears in the headphones themselves on maximum level sound.
Therefore, you need to adjust the volume using the method that I indicated in order to minimize possible distortion and noise from the headphones themselves, as well as to remove artificial amplification of unwanted noise.
Greetings!
Chinese electronics manufacturers never cease to amaze. That's just the quality of devices to this day is an outright lottery!
In the vastness of Aliexpress you can find a variety of mobile phones from unnamed Chinese manufacturers. An example is Servo devices - in fact, this is a typical noname (nameless manufacturer), with the appropriate quality.
However, the tubes of this manufacturer "cling" with their functionality. For example, in the line of this "manufacturer" there are devices that can work with 4 SIM cards simultaneously in standby mode, secure phones (in fact, this is not the case), a power bank phone, etc. This is what captivates in Chinese creations, because it is often not always realistic to find a similar solution among first-tier manufacturers.
However, after the acquisition, there is indignation, as well as frank disappointment with the quality, and regardless of the presence or absence of a pin on a typical Chinese device. In some cases, the microphone causes criticism (the interlocutors do not hear you well), and in some cases, along with your voice, background noise is also transmitted to the line.
This noise is a pickup on the audio path from the receiving-transmitting antenna of the device. Famous brands do not allow such mistakes, and this problem can hardly arise even in the cheapest “dialers”. But in Chinese devices, this problem pops up to this day. A design flaw, poor assembly, cost savings on components - in fact, all this is not important.
The owner first needs to understand that this problem is of a hardware nature. You may be wondering why this noise does not always occur? The fact is that the transmitter power varies, and depends on how far the device is from the base station at a given time, what is the level of its signal.
What to do in this situation? Definitely send the phone back to the seller, because. no firmware can fix this problem. There is clearly a hardware problem that can hardly be solved at home. It is possible that the screen is there, but it is poorly soldered. But do not rush to arm yourself with a soldering iron and correct this defect, because the components of modern devices are so close to each other that the “invasion” with an ordinary soldering iron into the scheme of the device is fraught with serious consequences. If repaired, then only with the use of special. equipment.
It is sad that Chinese manufacturers have concentrated on smartphones, and have completely forgotten the good old push-button devices, moreover, with support for several SIM cards.
It was Chinese manufacturers who once introduced multi-SIM devices, so it's surprising that now it's so difficult to find a decent solution that would support work with three or four SIM cards.
I really hope this is temporary. Smartphones to this day have not offered a worthy replacement - not only does the operating time leave much to be desired, but there are practically no representatives who could offer support for three .. four SIM cards.
