Canon Rebel XT / EOS 350D Digital Camera Logo
Anonymous Posted on Dec 25, 2007

CANON REBEL DIGITAL AUTO FOCUS STOPPED WORKING WHILE TAKING PICTURES

My auto focus just stopped working. I was taking pictures right along and when I stopped to give the camera a break I noticed that the focus lights didnt turn on. Then it would not do anything except go in and out and not focus or let it take the shot..I have been able to manual focus and shoot with it but my vison is less then fair and I am unable to shoot a clear picture this was. Of course Im away from home and its Christmas and I was really looking forward to getting good shots of the lights and my grandkids..Any quick fixes? Thank You Kate

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  • babyfaces Dec 25, 2007

    Me too! On the exact same day! What is going on? And on the wrong day at that! Help!!!

  • Anonymous Dec 26, 2007

    I also joined the broken pin to the sub mirror club on Christmas morning. Manually focused all of the family pictures with margina success (really difficult to manually focus in low light). The problem is all over the internet and seems to be universal after heavy usage of the camera. Did Canon ever acknowledge this as an issue they would cover?



    HPK

  • pizzedoff Dec 26, 2007

    Yesterday morning my Rebel did the same thing. The only way it will take pictures is with manual focus. The Auto Focus feature acts like it works but it still leaves the image out of focus in the viewfinder and the shutter will not operate. Switch the camera to manual focus and it works fine.

  • AnnieHank Dec 27, 2007

    Camera was working great on Christmas day... took a break from pics, then picked it back up and it didn't work! The autofocus moves back and forth in an attempt to focus, but the camera never focuses, there is no beep and no lights in the viewfinder. I can use the manual focus. Is the only help going to be professional help? Can this be fixed? How common is it?

  • Anonymous Dec 27, 2007

    Have the same problem, it´s been suggested that recalibration might help. I´ll try to get it professionally evaluated after the holidays

  • Anonymous Jan 05, 2008

    AF is not working properly. Same problem.

  • Anonymous Jan 14, 2008

    Mine just started the same thing a few days ago, in the middle of a photoshoot with my kids. Just stopped autofocusing, and there's a ghost image/double vision when you look through it

    My vision is really bad so manual focus isn't an option for me.

  • 3girlsmom Jan 19, 2008

    Wow, mine stopped auto focussing over Christmas too - ruined a bunch of pictures and of course I was out of town. Still can't figure out how to fix it!

  • JFlips Jan 30, 2008

    My problems started when in the middle of taking pictures as well. All of a sudden the bottom half of my images were completely black. A little research and I discovered I could gently tilt the secondary mirror back into place while in sensor cleaning mode. So now my images no longer have the black half, but the auto focus zooms in and out and won't let me take a picture. The manual focus works just fine. It is odd that so many of us have this happening at the same time.

  • Anonymous Feb 05, 2008

    I was taking pictures with AF, then it just stopped focusing. Memory card has space, batteries charged. I can manually focus but it will not let me take a picture, either through the normal button or through the button my my battery grip. What is going on?? ;___;

  • Anonymous Feb 17, 2008

    It has been 2 months since I sent my box into to canon and I found out yesterday it will cost me 200$ to get it back without being told what is wrong with it until it is paid for...Dah what a bunch of crap...Oh well I said to fix it and will let you know what I find out..It will be cleaned and brought up to new specs and have a 6 months warrenty on it again when I get it back..Karaokekate

  • Anonymous Feb 03, 2009

    I have the same problem, my autofocus does not work and hasnt for months ive just been taking awful photos with manual and it wont even zoom , its all messed up and doesnt go smoothly when i turn the manual lens and if its zoomed in al lthe way and a picture is taken its not viewable at all, so blurry

  • KAMMsTheACE Feb 20, 2009

    SAME PROBLEM! IS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO SEND IT IN TO CANON?!?


    KAMMs

  • tomsCat May 04, 2009

    I have the same problem. Tried all 4 of the lens that I have, 2 of them canon brand. Will shoot on mf only. Then looked on craigslist to see if I could find a camera to replace mine. Found many for sale with the same problem. So what gives?

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THE VERY SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY CANNON REBEL.. IT SUDDENLY STOPPED AUTO FOCUS. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE IT SERVICE BUT I ASKED MY NEPHEW AND HE TOLD ME TO SIMPLY CLEAN THE CONTACT POINTS OF THE LENS TO THE CAMERA. DID IT AND BWALAH TO MY SUPRISED IT WORKED. AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

IT WORKS....

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The pin that holds the AF sub-mirror in place is made of plastic. After it breaks part of the shot will be dark. Turning the camera upside down could possible correct the problem until repaired. The solution is to replace the pin with a metal pin. Not easily done by a novice.

http://www.lotek.nu/misc/EOS_300D_sub-mirror_repair/

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I had the same problem as well, send the camera to Canon they fixed it for free, got it back and it still did not focus... but they cleaned it up nice... bid deal.

Now the other day it will not even turn on, batteries are fully charged and the screen is black.

Moral of this story, the Canon name is total ****, not was it once was. Very sad.


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I too am having the exact problem although I can actually shoot a pic and it will auto focus but.... it will NOT auto focus pushing the "shoot" button Half way. If I push the button ALL the way as if taking a photo, it does auto focus then shoots pic? So it almost seems as if the button itself may be bad? I can no longer push it half way to simply focus.... I am not liking the lack of support you all seem to be having from Canon here.
I tried cleaning the contacts.... had no effect on my problem. Maybe I just have a bad shooting button?

A

Anonymous

Almost free solution –  I put a dab of "UHU tac" removable adhesive putty bind the secondary mirror, to hold it up perminantely.  I have to focus manually, but it has held for over a year.

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All of us need to ban together and fight canon... If I had known that this professional camera would need to be replaced faster than my point and shoots, I would have reconsidered the $700 i spent on it just THREE years ago. It's absolutely ridiculous that Canon will not fix this problem. The guy in Customer Service said "well what can you expect with a lower end camera?". I don't consider the Rebel to be a lower end camera and 3 years is certainly a short life.

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I tried to make pics last night and the AF did not work. What can i do to fix that? any ideas

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  • Posted on Dec 31, 2007
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I had the same problem described above happen to me today. I took the lens off and moved the mirror up and down a few times manually. I put the lens back on and the camera is now working normally.

I suspect this is only a temporary solution, so I'll probably start socking away some money to either get it repaired for real, or for a new body, but I figured it might work for some others.

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Update

I spoke to Canon on the 26th. They "don't have this recorded as a service issue". Sounds like nonsense to me, when this is clearly a known problem. Fix of the broken pin to the sub mirror is in the ~$200 range.

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A

Anonymous

No soloution but it cost me 15$ to send my box in to canon as the camera shop where I bought it couldnt or wouldnt even guess at what it was. So if it it calibration thats crap because this camera is suppose tobe able to handle the speed I was snapping and I have done so many times before. Would have an easier time believing it was a bad shoot button. Well I should know with in 6 weeks I was told . What a deal huh..Makes me want to buy a new camera of a different make..THANKS CANON

A

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This is crazy, I has the same thing happen to me today. How is this so common all at once. I wish someone had a solution.

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When autofocus cameras are aimed at a subject that doesn't have adequate details or contrast, they won't focus.On some models that means they won't take a picture at all.
If a customer brings in a camera and says that it won't focus, show them how to aim it at something on which it will focus, depress the shutter part way, and then recompose the picture.
Don't take in a camera for repair if this is the complaint; it can't be fixed because the problem is not in the camera, but a matter of physics.

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