topic Re: t6i won't take pictures/focus in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

t3 won't take pictures/focus

roonie21 — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 21:20:54 GMT

I have a Rebel t3 and it has worked great for about 5 months or so. Today I took it out to take a picture (after only a week in the case), and it wouldn't take the picture. It will capture a picture if I am in MF, but everything is blurry, even when I look through the viewfinder.

I tried taking the battery and SD card out and inserting them back in, taking off the lens and putting it back on, adjusting the focus settings...nothing is working. Nothing was changed on the camera from last time to this time and it doesn't matter where I try to take a picture-it still won't work.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

Mykolas — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 11:12:17 GMT

Hi roonie21!

Thank you for posting. I understand your EOS Rebel T3 will not take a picture or autofocus.

If the camera is unable to achieve a focus lock on the AF mode, it will not let the picture be taken. This is why you are able to shoot when it is in the MF mode.

I recommend that you try removing the lens and cleaning the electrical contacts on the lens and camera with a soft microfiber cleaning cloth. This will improve the connection between them.

If the camera still does not let a picture be taken, try using a different lens. This will help rule out either the camera or the lens as the cause. If the camera does focus and let a picture be taken with the alternate lens, your original lens will need to be repaired. If not, your camera will need to be repaired.

To start the repair process, you'll need to complete a Repair Request on our website.

This didn't answer your question or issue? Find more help at Contact Us.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

ScottyP — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:48:33 GMT

Hi Roonie

It could be too dark for the camera to autofocus, or it could be you are trying to focus on something too close up for the lens to work.

Before getting more serious try shooting something far away and in bright light or daylight. Sometimes it is the simple thing.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

edykins — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 11:31:44 GMT

I know this question is old, but I found it while having the exact same problem, so I decided to post what I did to fix my camera. The reason mine was doing this is that the auto focus was set to only focus in on the right side of the frame. I had forgotten that I had messed around with the settings the last time I had used it. To fix it, I had to adjust the auto focus point selector. You press this button and then turn the little wheel that adjusts the diopter left or right so that all of the little red lights show up while looking through the view finder. The auto focus point selector button looks like this:

Hopefully this helps. It may be that the settings were accidentally adjusted and you didn't realize it.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

ebiggs1 — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 15:46:17 GMT

If it is as you stated in your post, either the camera or the lens is faulty. However, it is still under warranty if it is just 5 months old.

I know you stated you didn't change anything but I would still try to "Clear All Settings" in the Menu tab. You don't know how many people think there is someting worng with their camera and didn't realize they just didn't set it correctly.

Actually I would go over everything and I doubt the cleaning of the contacts will make any difference. Unless you have reason to think so and didin't mention it.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

TCampbell — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 15:24:31 GMT

The AF sensors must be able to lock onto something with "contrast" in order to focus. I'll use an analogy.

Suppose you take a photo of a flower, print it, then cut it into two halves. Now mis-align the two halves. It's obvious to someone looking at the image that the two halves are mis-aligned and you would be able to slide them together until the left and right sides match up.

That's basically how the "phase detect" AF sensor is working. Light goes through a prism to split the beam and mis-align it so that the image is out of phase. It determines how far out of phase the two parts of the image sample are and can correct for it by re-focusing the lens.

BUT... if you point the camera with no contrast, it's a different story.

Suppose you take a photo of plain blue sky, print it, and cut that image into two halves. By using JUST the image (ignore the fact that the print is paper and we can see that the sides don't line up) can you tell that one part of the sky does not match up with the other part of the sky? No? The camera can't figure it out either.

Any "active" AF point (you can put the camera into a mode to select a specific AF point or select a mode that allows it to use all the AF points) needs to be able to find something with "contrast" and it also needs to have enough light to achieve focus. A camera will struggle in poor lighting.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

jtnlips89 — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 23:22:31 GMT

Thank you so much for this!! Forgot I changed mine a couple months back and was going crazy wondering why I couldn't stay focused to get the picture I was wanting! 🙂

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

CoriG82 — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:15:01 GMT

I am having this same problem. I have read all of the responses below. I don't have another lens to try, but I did try and clean this one and I'm still having the problem. I tried hitting the AF point selection like someone pointed out below. When I do all of the points are red, but a couple of the red dots are blurry (towards the bottom). Does that mean something is wrong with the lens or that's normal ?

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

jrhoffman75 — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 13:20:51 GMT

The lens has nothing to do with the focus points. You can remove the lens, point camera towards light and press the focus point selection button.

If the lower focus focus points are fuzzy and the upper aren't maybe the focusing screen is loose.

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

Waddizzle — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 17:49:20 GMT

@CoriG82 wrote:
I am having this same problem. I have read all of the responses below. I don't have another lens to try, but I did try and clean this one and I'm still having the problem. I tried hitting the AF point selection like someone pointed out below. When I do all of the points are red, but a couple of the red dots are blurry (towards the bottom). Does that mean something is wrong with the lens or that's normal ?

If you switch your lens [which lens?] to MF, can it take a picture?

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

Jergeno — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 09:43:06 GMT

operly.
Hi,

My Canon T3i Camera shutter button is not working properly. If I press the shutter button it only does Focus adjustment and does not click any picture. If I shut down the camera and then switch on it automatically take picure. Anything I can do to fix this problem

Thanks,

Matte

Re: t3 won't take pictures/focus

Waddizzle — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 12:06:45 GMT

@Jergeno wrote:
operly.
Hi,

My Canon T3i Camera shutter button is not working properly. If I press the shutter button it only does Focus adjustment and does not click any picture. If I shut down the camera and then switch on it automatically take picure. Anything I can do to fix this problem

Thanks,

Matte

You really should start a new thread for your own issue, instead of hitchhiking onto someone else's thread. That's just good forum etiquette, not specific to any particular forum. Someone is now getting emails and alerts about YOUR issue, not their own.

You either need a new memory card, or you have an internal circuit board failure. Go into the menus and reset the camer back to factory default settings. This may have to be done in more than location in the menus, if you have any custom button programming set in your camera.

Try powering up the camera without the memory card. Try it with the camera's shooting mode set to the Green [A] mode. I would also try a new card. Stick to full size, major name brand cards. Never use micro-SD with an adapter. Be sure to format your memory card in the camera, using the "low level format" option.

If resetting the camera, or using a new, freshly formatted memory card does not fix it, then contact Canon Support.

Re: t6i won't take pictures/focus

munirahasan — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 14:38:18 GMT

i bought my camera yesterday and it worked fine. but now the camera wont shoot photos or focus in auto. and when i press the button the shutter doesnt work. it works when its in manual mode. but when i change the setting to al servo it works perfectly. nut it wont work in one shot setting. what do i do?

Re: t6i won't take pictures/focus

Waddizzle — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 15:03:20 GMT

@munirahasan wrote:
hi
i bought my camera yesterday and it worked fine. but now the camera wont shoot photos or focus in auto. and when i press the button the shutter doesnt work. it works when its in manual mode. but when i change the setting to al servo it works perfectly. nut it wont work in one shot setting. what do i do?

It could be your shooting mode, and focusing mode to blame. In One Shot mode, the camera uses focus priority, which means the camera will not fire the shutter until it achieves an autofocus lock.

DO you see anything flashing in the viewfinder when this happens to you?

In AI Servo mode, the camera defaults to shutter priority mode, which means it will not wait for an autofocus lock to fire the shutter. Of course, switching to manual mode means the camera is not trying to use autofocus at all, and so it simply fires the shutter whenever you press it all the way.

There are a variety of reasons why you may not be able to achieve an autofocus lock in One Shot mode. The most common reasons are probably not enough light for the camera to focus, being too close to the subject, and not having enough contrast under the active AF point.

If you set the camera to Green [A] mode, and go outside on a bright sunny day, it should fire the shutter. If it does, then, without changing the settings, try to photograph whatever is giving you trouble. If the camera wants to raise the flash, let it do so.

If you see a flashing icon in the viewfinder, then the camera is trying to alert you that something is not correctly. For example, you should see the shutter speed display flash when you have insufficient light.

Re: t6i won't take pictures/focus

munirahasan — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 15:13:09 GMT

what the problem is the shutter speed on the screen displays as blank. i dont understand whether its my camera's problem or did i press something i shouldnt have. i click the button to take a photo the LCD screen blacks out and doesnt take any photo

Re: t6i won't take pictures/focus

Waddizzle — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 15:42:25 GMT

@munirahasan wrote:
what the problem is the shutter speed on the screen displays as blank. i dont understand whether its my camera's problem or did i press something i shouldnt have. i click the button to take a photo the LCD screen blacks out and doesnt take any photo

You have not stated what shooting mode you're using, but it sounds like you're using Live View, as if your camera were a cell phone. Use the viewfinder. You will take sharper photos, and viewfinder display will tell the camera's status.

Like I said, try taking photos in Green [A] mode, outdoors in the bright sunlight. Use the viewfinder. If all else fails, you can also try using the menu selection that resets the camera to factory defaults.