Canon 60D technical concern

[Pukka312]

My primary body is a canon 60D and it generally works well. It has started to have some issues lately, and I don't know how else to describe it other than to say it sort of "freezes" on me. I will focus, go to press the shutter and nada. Nothing. If I turn the camera off for a few seconds and turn it back on, I'm good. It is now happening almost every event I shoot, usually no more than once or twice, with no identifiable patterns to what triggers it. So far I've worked around it and haven't missed any critical shots, but I know it's bound to happen...or worse, what if turning the camera off doesn't reset the issue. There are no camera repair shops here to my knowledge, as I asked one of the better photogs where he services his camera and he actually does it when he makes an annual trip to the states. So, just curious if anyone has any ideas what the issue could be, or perhaps ideas on what may be triggering it that I could watch for just to reduce the incidence.

 

[oldmapman]

My primary body is a canon 60D and it generally works well. It has started to have some issues lately, and I don't know how else to describe it other than to say it sort of "freezes" on me. I will focus, go to press the shutter and nada. Nothing. If I turn the camera off for a few seconds and turn it back on, I'm good. It is now happening almost every event I shoot, usually no more than once or twice, with no identifiable patterns to what triggers it. So far I've worked around it and haven't missed any critical shots, but I know it's bound to happen...or worse, what if turning the camera off doesn't reset the issue. There are no camera repair shops here to my knowledge, as I asked one of the better photogs where he services his camera and he actually does it when he makes an annual trip to the states. So, just curious if anyone has any ideas what the issue could be, or perhaps ideas on what may be triggering it that I could watch for just to reduce the incidence.

Maybe time to send it off to Canon Repair,I have a 60D,but I have never had this happen to me.

 

[PagesPhotography]

Send it in to canon!

also, make sure the lens is on correctly/fully, when I've had issues focusing I've "unlocked" the lens, turned it like an 1/8 of a turn, then twisted it back to "lock" it back onto the camera body.

also, (I can't remember if the 60d has this) but is the camera locking focus? I know sometimes there's a setting that prevents the shutter from triggering until the camera locks focus.

Are you in manual or autofocus when this happens?

 

[Pukka312]

Send it in to canon!

also, make sure the lens is on correctly/fully, when I've had issues focusing I've "unlocked" the lens, turned it like an 1/8 of a turn, then twisted it back to "lock" it back onto the camera body.

also, (I can't remember if the 60d has this) but is the camera locking focus? I know sometimes there's a setting that prevents the shutter from triggering until the camera locks focus.

Are you in manual or autofocus when this happens?

I am shooting autofocus and yes, if the camera doesn't lock focus it won't trigger. This doesn't appear to be the case though as I will always pull back, refocus on something else and test fire. If it still doesn't fire, I have to turn it off and on again.

I can't send it to canon from here...I have literally no trust of the postal system here. Not to mention how much import fees I would be paying just to get it back. I will try to get it to canon once I'm back in he states for a visit

 

[PagesPhotography]

hmm, thats not cool!

If I happen to hear about this problem elsewhere, Ill post back up!

 

[bigal1000]

I can't imagine saying I can't trust the postal service,glad to be living the good old United States of America

 

[fokker]

Try cleaning the lens contact pins on both the lens and the body, sometimes they can become dirty and won't make a proper electrical contact. I've solved an issue with this in the past using alcohol pads to wipe the pins clean, though I've also heard of people using an eraser.

 

[Big Mike]

Firstly, double check the focus mode you are in. If you have the camera in 'One Shot' focus mode, it won't take the photo until the lens has fully achieved focus (green circle in the view finder lights up). If you had always had it in 'AI Focus' or 'AI Servo' before, it may feel different to you. But either way, it would still work once focus is achieved.

So maybe the issue is that the camera/lens isn't achieving focus, and thus won't snap the photo. As mentioned, check the lens connection and clean the contacts.

 

[Foxtrot_01]

Hello,
I got my girlfriend a Canon 60D, she told me she was having the same problems, she was going to take a picture and the pressed the button and nothing, she tried on every setting, I checked the camera and it worked well, one of those things(your car acts up, when you take it to the mechanic, everything works until you get home), I called Canon, they said to check the contacts(lens and camera) maybe clean them up. I didnt notice the problem until the second day, everything was good until my 20th picture, I pressed the button and nothing, I checked and it seems there was some response from me pressing the button but nothing was working, I focused in another direction and it took the picture. I went home and checked the lens, it seems the lens outside(plastic) ring is cracked and there is some separation(2mm) it is a very good crack. That might be the reason it is not working correctly. I called Canon and they suggested to use another lens for a couple days to find out if it was the camera or the lens. I still have a couple days to go, so far 100 pics with the other lens and no visible problems.

I will update in a couple days. to make story short, check your lens, check if it always happen with the same lens or with all the lenses. I am luck because I have the exact same lens my gf has so I can test it.

 

[TCampbell]

BEFORE you send it in for repair...

You said it sometimes does this at "events". Can you please describe the shooting conditions at these events? Would you characterize them as having low light?

I ask because there are a variety of reasons why a perfectly good camera can fail to focus or shoot. I'll explain.

The "default" shooting mode on a 60D is "One Shot" mode. But what you might not necessarily know is that this mode is ALSO Canon's "focus priority" mode. THAT means that if the camera fails to lock auto-focus on the subject then the camera WILL NOT SHOOT (and that's on purpose... it's programmed to do this.)

You can also switch the camera to "AI Servo" mode. That mode is really designed for sports (and you should not use it unless your subject is moving or you can get focus errors), but that mode also switches the camera to "release priority" mode. THAT means that the camera WILL take the shot when you fully press the shutter button whether it was able to lock focus or not.

You can also switch off AF on the lens.

Other reasons why cameras sometimes don't fire is if you've switched on a self-timer mode -- although you'd probably figure that out when the camera fires between 2 or 10 seconds later and powering the camera off and back on wouldn't clear the behavior.

But I have seen cameras where turning it off and on only seems to clear the behavior because in reality the camera just happened to catch some contrast somewhere and was able to lock focus.

Remember that the AF point is looking for contrast. If the AF target points are on spots that have almost no contrast then the camera can fail to focus... especially if it's dark.

 

[Pukka312]

BEFORE you send it in for repair...

You said it sometimes does this at "events". Can you please describe the shooting conditions at these events? Would you characterize them as having low light?

I ask because there are a variety of reasons why a perfectly good camera can fail to focus or shoot. I'll explain.

The "default" shooting mode on a 60D is "One Shot" mode. But what you might not necessarily know is that this mode is ALSO Canon's "focus priority" mode. THAT means that if the camera fails to lock auto-focus on the subject then the camera WILL NOT SHOOT (and that's on purpose... it's programmed to do this.)

You can also switch the camera to "AI Servo" mode. That mode is really designed for sports (and you should not use it unless your subject is moving or you can get focus errors), but that mode also switches the camera to "release priority" mode. THAT means that the camera WILL take the shot when you fully press the shutter button whether it was able to lock focus or not.

You can also switch off AF on the lens.

Other reasons why cameras sometimes don't fire is if you've switched on a self-timer mode -- although you'd probably figure that out when the camera fires between 2 or 10 seconds later and powering the camera off and back on wouldn't clear the behavior.

But I have seen cameras where turning it off and on only seems to clear the behavior because in reality the camera just happened to catch some contrast somewhere and was able to lock focus.

Remember that the AF point is looking for contrast. If the AF target points are on spots that have almost no contrast then the camera can fail to focus... especially if it's dark.

Yes, I have it primarily set to one shot focus as many of my events are low light, and I found focus to seem to work better on that setting. I do try to pull back and re-focus with high contrasting elements before I turn it off and on, but it still won't work without turning it off sometimes. I tried switching to al servo but noticed the camera had a harder time focusing in the light I was working in, so went back to one shot. Froze on me 3 times. If it makes a difference, I noticed it only with my flash on. If I switched the flash off and worked with available light it was ok---but cant recall if that's been the case in the past.

And as for switching manual focus, I really think my sight is not great enough. I wear glasses and everything, but have tried focusing manually and then switching to AF to see if I'm on point. I'm always a bit off.

 

[Pukka312]

P.S. most of the events are weddings and send-offs, often low light conditions....sometimes near non-existent light conditions

 

[RaeAnglen]

BEFORE you send it in for repair...

You said it sometimes does this at "events". Can you please describe the shooting conditions at these events? Would you characterize them as having low light?

I ask because there are a variety of reasons why a perfectly good camera can fail to focus or shoot. I'll explain.

The "default" shooting mode on a 60D is "One Shot" mode. But what you might not necessarily know is that this mode is ALSO Canon's "focus priority" mode. THAT means that if the camera fails to lock auto-focus on the subject then the camera WILL NOT SHOOT (and that's on purpose... it's programmed to do this.)

You can also switch the camera to "AI Servo" mode. That mode is really designed for sports (and you should not use it unless your subject is moving or you can get focus errors), but that mode also switches the camera to "release priority" mode. THAT means that the camera WILL take the shot when you fully press the shutter button whether it was able to lock focus or not.

You can also switch off AF on the lens.

Other reasons why cameras sometimes don't fire is if you've switched on a self-timer mode -- although you'd probably figure that out when the camera fires between 2 or 10 seconds later and powering the camera off and back on wouldn't clear the behavior.

But I have seen cameras where turning it off and on only seems to clear the behavior because in reality the camera just happened to catch some contrast somewhere and was able to lock focus.

Remember that the AF point is looking for contrast. If the AF target points are on spots that have almost no contrast then the camera can fail to focus... especially if it's dark.

Yes, I have it primarily set to one shot focus as many of my events are low light, and I found focus to seem to work better on that setting. I do try to pull back and re-focus with high contrasting elements before I turn it off and on, but it still won't work without turning it off sometimes. I tried switching to al servo but noticed the camera had a harder time focusing in the light I was working in, so went back to one shot. Froze on me 3 times. If it makes a difference, I noticed it only with my flash on. If I switched the flash off and worked with available light it was ok---but cant recall if that's been the case in the past.

And as for switching manual focus, I really think my sight is not great enough. I wear glasses and everything, but have tried focusing manually and then switching to AF to see if I'm on point. I'm always a bit off.

I have the 60d and in the past week I've noticed the camera "locks" (for lack of a better term) whenever I have my 430ex canon flash mounted as well. It focuses, but the specs in the viewfinder disappear and it won't take the picture. I power down everything, sometimes it last up to a minute that the camera won't shoot. I am an event photographer as well, so it seems we are having the same issues. I have shot for two years without the flash, never once having an issue. Seems it only does this when the external is mounted. Have you found a solution or does anyone else have ideas. Thank you!!