Old camera - 50D

[JanineW]

Hi all!  Im a newbie here but have been a multiple canon owner for some time.  My very first canon 50D had not been getting much use of late, but was wanting to use it recently as a backup.   I now find that it works in auto mode but not in the P, AV, TV, or manual modes.  It clicks as if it is taking a photo but the action doesnt conclude.  Does anyone have any ideas?  Many thanks for your input 🙂

[William_N · Accepted solution]

Hi JanineW,

Welcome to the Canon Forums and thanks for your post!

Since the camera works in the Auto mode this tells us it can complete the process of taking a picture. It sounds like the Mirror lockup feature of the camera is enabled. This feature would only affect the camera in the creative shooting modes (P, Tv, Av, M), so it could explain why the camera functions normally in Auto mode.

The Mirror lockup feature is more fully described on pages 106 and 180 of the camera's manual (HERE). Mirror lockup is one of the Custom Functions of the camera, so it is located in the Custom Functions (orange camera) section of the camera's menu.

Choose the C.Fn III: Autofocus/Drive submenu and go to the 6th option, which is Mirror lockup. Make sure this setting is disabled and test the camera (I recommend P mode) to see if that fixed it.

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[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

First and foremost when things don't go as intended, reset the camera to default. It is in the Menus.

[JanineW]

Thank you William, you were spot on .  I did reset the camera, but there werent any changes, so I mustn't have gone through the correct procedure for the reset!

[JanineW]

Thanks so much for your response! I thought I had done the reset, but obviously I hadnt done it properly. The problem was the mirror lockup was activated 🙂

[ebiggs1]

Success!  Remember to reset when something doesn't go as planned.  It is easy to hit a button or menu and not realize it.