PowerShot G12 won't autofocus

[jccrowther]

My G12 suddenly will not focus. I can't find any help in the manual.

[kvbarkley]

What does it do/not do? What mode are you in?

[jccrowther]

I'm not sure if my reply went through. I'm in full auto. The image on the camera's screen is clear enough, but expanding it shows that nothing is in clear focus.

[kvbarkley]

Can you here the lens making any focusing sounds? Does it think its in focus?

[jccrowther]

Yes, I can hear lens movement when I point the camera at near and then far scenes. The image on the screen also changes focus.

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
There a several questions to consider here:
Is the battery able to deliver its full energy to the camera - is it fully charged?
Has ANYTHING changed in any way since it last worked?
What are you trying to focus on?  Does it have distinct lines of contrast and shape?

[jccrowther]

1. Yes, the battery is fully charged. My only measure of whether the battery can deliver full energy to the camera is the rate at which the lens emerges on power-up. This seems to be as quick as usual.

2. To my knowledge nothing has changed. The camera has not been dropped or mishandled in any other way.

3. I've tried focusing on near and far items, and all are pretty much the same. I was recently on vacation when I decided that the Canon just wasn't working right--poor focus. I switched to my phone, an undistinguished Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. I just looked looked through images I had taken with each and had the luck to find one from each camera of the same outdoor scene from almost the same perspective. They were obviously taken at the time I decided to switch. The scene had sharp lines and good contrast. The phone shot was noticeably clearer, particularly at a distance.

[Tronhard]

It's hard to be definitive without original sample images and the EXIF data, but I will note that the G12 was released over 14 years ago, so it could just be showing its age.  No camera lasts forever and these are consumer, rather than the much more robust and expensive pro models.

[jccrowther]

Thank you for trying.

[jccrowther · Accepted solution]

Update: On a whim, I went to the Menu, chose Tools, and scrolled to the bottom of the list, where I found Reset All. Having nothing to lose, I clicked it, and the camera now autofocuses correctly.