EOS Rebel T7 Takes Too Long to Take a Photo

[kcaninja]

Hi!

I’ve had a Canon EOS Rebel T7  (with the standard 18-55mm lens) for a few days and I’ve noticed it takes a long time to take a picture. It will take a few seconds to autofocus when I hold the button down completely and then take the picture, which is hard when my subject is moving. Some modes won’t even take the pictures at all. My camera is working fine otherwise and I just need some tips. Is there a setting thing I have to change? How do I take pictures quickly? 

Thank you!! 🙂

[deebatman316]

What you're describing sounds like the camera is not locking focus. If the camera can't lock focus it won't take a picture. What are the lightning conditions like if they're dark or low contrast. The camera will have a difficult time locking focus. Also please provide the Full name of the EF-S 18-55mm lens you have. Canon has released multiple versions over the years. The camera uses 2 main focus modes. They're called One Shot and AI Servo there is a 3rd that's a hybrid mode called AI Focus. One Shot is Focus Priority. The camera won't take a picture unless the camera locks focus. AI Servo is Release Priority. The camera WILL take pictures even if the picture is not in focus. AI Servo has no focus lock. AI Focus defaults to One Shot first then will switch to AI Servo if the camera detects movement.

[kcaninja]

Thank you for the tips. This helped as I can now take picture more quickly if I don’t release the shutter button after focusing. My lens is the EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II. Sorry I wasn’t more specific before! 

Thank you once again!

[deebatman316]

What are you taking pictures of and what is the lighting like. This has an impact on the camera's AF system.

[kcaninja]

Portraits, plants, and landscapes! Lighting is somewhat low (indoors) so I have adjusted the settings accordingly. My ISO is pretty high, would that cause issues?

[deebatman316]

The high ISO will cause more noise. The inadequate lighting takes a hit to the AF system. Your camera's AF system relies on sufficient light and contrast. If your subject(s) lack contrast the camera will not lock focus. Your camera uses the older 9 Point AF system compared to newer cameras. The weakness of that AF system is low light and low contrast. Your lens also has a slow aperture too. Which is causing the camera to take a long time to focus. Are you using the built in flash at all. If so the built-in flash should be providing an AF Assist Beam.

[rs-eos]

What mode do you have your camera in? Auto? Or one of the creative modes (Av, Tv, etc.)?

If you're in low light conditions, the shutter speed used could be quite slow, so that could also be contributing to the slow image captures.

[deebatman316]

@Ricky I just looked into the camera manual. What about Long Exposure Noise Reduction could this also cause this. Since it takes another exposure after the first picture.

[stevet1]

kcaninja,

Your camera has something called drive mode. You can set it up to take pictures instantly, or wait for either 10 seconds or 2 seconds before taking a picture.

It almost sounds.like your camera is set up to wait for a 2 second delay before it takes a picture.

Go into your manual and read up on how you can set this up in your camera. Basically it amounts to hitting your Q button and then scrolling over to that setting.

If I'm wrong, and you are already set up to take pictures instantaneously, then you can ignore this and try some of the other suggestions you have received.

Steve Thomas