EOS T3i not taking photos

[Phillylady]

1. It turns on
2. The lower right green dot, as viewed through the eye viewer, flashes off and on when I press the shutter button.  Nothing happens beyond that.
3. The button will not go half way down to focus, and it will not click to take a photo.  Therefore it is not focusing, or taking a photo.
4. None of the other settings will take a photo either,
5. EXCEPT when I put it into video. It will record video and SNAP A PHOTO while I am in video.
6. I have removed the battery and reseated it three times, it is fully charged and I've also tried using a 2nd battery. This is not the problem.

7. I have removed the photo card and reseated it 3 times.  It has tons of memory room left on it. 
8. I have removed the lens twice, and wiped the contacts (which look pristine as I normally never remove the lens).  
9. The camera is definitely set to AF.

I'm trying to figure out if some other setting on the camera inadvertently got shifted, but for the life of me I can't figure out what that would be. I'm not adventurous with the camera and just use the bare basics.

At the time that this happened it suddenly showed reluctance, I had to press down several times to finally get it to snap two final photos, and then it suddenly locked up completely.  It hasn't been banged, or knocked around, so I am mystified.

If you have any suggestions it would be really helpful if you could put them into layman's terms.  Pretty please. 

[Waddizzle]

Try this!  Put the lens AF/MF switch in the MF position.  If the camera takes a picture, then i suggest that you download a copy of the Instruction Manual.  There are a long list of things that are going wrong, and 90% of them are user error.

[Phillylady]

Okay, I just tried putting it into MF mode, and it does take a photo without hesitation. I have the manual that came with the camera and looked through the Troubleshooting list, but none of the things in there seemed applicable. I will double check again, and then look at the one online to see if it's any different. I'll get back to you if it's resolved.  Thanks!

[RobertTheFat]

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@Phillylady wrote:

Okay, I just tried putting it into MF mode, and it does take a photo without hesitation. I have the manual that came with the camera and looked through the Troubleshooting list, but none of the things in there seemed applicable. I will double check again, and then look at the one online to see if it's any different. I'll get back to you if it's resolved.  Thanks!

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There is a setting that prevents the camera from taking a picture if the lens (in AF mode) was unable to achieve focus (low light, too close to the subject, or whatever). I'd start by reading the part of the manual that deals with that phenomenon.

Video and live view use an entirely different focusing system. So the fact that those modes work is probably irrelevant.

[Phillylady]

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to change the situation.  I've looked through the manual, changed the settings to default (not that I'd changed them to begin with, but just in case).  And it works in manual mode, but I can't see well enough to manually focus the image manually.  Sigh

[Phillylady · Accepted solution]

Correction, after awhile, after doing the reset, suddenly it began to work again.

Thanks for all of the help everybody!  I have absolutely no clue what it was unhappy about, but it seems to have corrected itself.

[ebiggs1]

"... but it seems to have corrected itself."

I would bet on the reset in favor of it fixing itself !    Keep it in mind if/when it ever happens again, kido.

[Phillylady]

Well, it turns out that my response was premature. Sigh

It turns out that it is indeed now taking photos in Automatic setting.  However, the automatic focus is not participating. So, all of the photos are unadjusted, fuzzy, and some of them will not come up when I try to view them on the computer.

[ebiggs1]

"It turns out that it is indeed now taking photos in Automatic setting."

OK this is good.  If this works it is a good indication that nothing is wrong with the camera.

"...  the automatic focus is not participating."

Check the AF/MF switch on the lens.  Is it perhaps set to MF ?

"... some of them will not come up when I try to view them on the computer."

This is not a camera issue most likely.  You need to look at your computer and its software. Maybe a bad USB cable or USB port.

[Phillylady]

IT'S FIXED!

Thanks to everybody who tried to help me with this.  It's taken me awhile to get back to this.

The auto-focus is now working and I wanted to explain why, so that anybody who reads this link in the future can see how I got to the end result.

1. I began to realize that, even in the manual focus position, my camera lens was not focusing. It wasn't focusing when I physically turned the lens at all.
2. It finally occured to me that it was the lens, and not the camera that having a problem.
3. Fortunately, I have a long distance lens that I rarely use, so I tried it out on the camera body instead.
4. The auto focus on the long distance lens worked just fine!

5. That proved the lens was the problem, and not the camera.
6. So today I went on line and typed in "EFS 18-55 lens auto focus not working".

7. It brought me to a different Cannon Community topic train of messages.
8. And this is what it said.
(Just to be accurate, in my case, followed the instruction given by Julio several times.  I did not hear any kind of a "Click" or "Snap", but when I put the lens back on the camera the auto-focus worked).

From Julio at Cannon:
"it does sound like it could be the motor in the lens. We have found that sometimes we're able to remedy this without a costly repair, but it is a multi-stepped process.

Try this:

1. Take the lens off of your camera.
2. Put the lens in MF mode.
3. Twist the FOCUS ring (the tip of the lens) all the way to one side (extend it). You may hear a click noise or two, this is good, but don't FORCE the lens.
4. Twist the FOCUS ring all the way to the opposite side (retract it). Again, you may hear a couple of clicking noises. What we hope is happening is the focusing motor being put back into its proper place.
5. Put the lens back on the camera.
6. Put the lens in AF mode.
7. Turn the camera on.
8. Put the camera in AUTO or P mode.
9. Take a test photo.
10. Profit.
    Hopefully this solves your problems, and you never have to worry about it again! With my personal lenses that are not USM or STM, I always store and transport them with the AF/MF switch in the MF position. This disengages the focusing motor and prevents any accidental damage to the auto focusing motor."