EOS M50 won't take a photo with flash on

[johnpotash11]

Hello! I have a cannon EOS M50 and it works completely fine until a turn on the flash and then it says busy and fails to take a photo. I have switched out my SD card as some suggested to so and it still does not function properly. What can I do to fix this? 

[jrhoffman75]

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@johnpotash11 wrote:

Hello! I have a cannon EOS M50 and it works completely fine until a turn on the flash and then it says busy and fails to take a photo. I have switched out my SD card as some suggested to so and it still does not function properly. What can I do to fix this? 

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Is the flash popping up?

[Waddizzle]

The “BUSY” message could simply mean that the flash circuit is charging, and the camera isn’t ready to capture a flash photo.  

[johnpotash11]

I can manually put it up, I don't remember if it ever popped up on its own.

[johnpotash11]

No matter how long I leave the flash up, presumably allowing it to charge, the busy message will not go away.

[jrhoffman75]

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@johnpotash11 wrote:

I can manually put it up, I don't remember if it ever popped up on its own.

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So the error is occurring after you manually raise the flash? I don't know the specifics of that camera but many Canon DSLRs will automatically raise the flash.

[johnpotash11]

The error message occurs after I turn flash on manually by pressing the flash button and selecting on. Even if the flash isn't raised but the setting is selected, the camera won't shoot. Same goes for if the flash is up and selected. 

[Waddizzle]

How long have you had this camera? 

Has it always exhibited this issue or is it something that just started?

The camera is several years old.  It’s possible that the charger for the flash drive circuit has failed.  Make sure you have a good battery that’s fully charged.  

In don’t know if this camera is still serviced by Canon.  

[Ckdahl11]

I am having the exact same problem! I might take it into a camera shop so they can look at it. I’ll let you know if I find out anything 

[MapleCamera]

What worked for me was by turning on the camera while the pop up flash is lifted. This seems to override the busy status. It is not a permanent fix however and will go back to the same issue if you close the flash while the camera is on. You need the camera to be off. Lift the flash. Then turn the camera on. I suspect this to be a firmware issue and should be resolved once it’s updated. I’ll see if it’s fixed once I try a firmware update.