Shutter not opening when attempting to shoot -

[CaptainBlue]

Recently came into the issue of my rebel t3i's shutter not opening while I'm trying to shoot. Have tried shooting in every setting possible, have pulled battery, have reset settings back to factory, and nothing has worked. When I turn the camera off, the shutter opens, but when it's powered up, it only lets me take snap anything using live view finder. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advannce. 😃

[ScottyP]

Your shutter does not open when the camera is turned off.

It sounds like maybe you have the mirror locked open or like you are simply in live view mode. That mirror raising up or lowering down would make a clunk sound that you might be thinking is the shutter opening. It would also prevent you from focusing in the normal way, and would force you to shoot in live view.

[TCampbell]

It sounds like you've toggled the camera into live-view mode.

To the right of the viewfinder eyecup there's a button with an icon of a camera on it (and a red dot next to it).  

Press that button.  It toggles the camera bewteen normal viewfinder shooting and liveview shooting.  

In "liveview" mode, the reflex mirror has to swing upward to allow light to reach the sensor - and this blocks the view through the viewfinder.   It is not possible to use BOTH the liveview mode and see through the viewfinder at the same time.