Canon T1i Question

[mr.mike]

Hi all,
I'm brand new to this forum, and a bit green when it comes to digital photography, but here goes. I just bought a second hand Canon Rebel T1i. The camera is very clean and appears to have been well taken care of. My purchase was for the body only figuring I could use my Canon EF 35-80 Everything on the camera seems to work, however when I switch to the full auto mode, nothing happens. I followed the manual and all settings appear to be correct, but I don't have the ability to shoot unless I switch to the live mode. In addition, the auto focus feature on my 35-80 lens is totally unresponsive. I'd be greatful if someone could offer a suggestion. Thank you in advance for your help.
Mike

 

[Railphotog]

Any chance the lens is set for manual focus?

 

[mr.mike]

Hi,
The lens was switched to AF. I put the lens back on my old EOS 750, and the AF functions fine. I'm waiting for a Canon 18-55 lens to arrive, and hope this will work. I was a bit concerned that the camera itself my have issues. The camera only seems to work in live mode. The image on the LCD screen appears fine, but the viewfinder appears to lock up when I switch to the auto program. My first thought was that my settings were all messed up. But then I thought about my using an older lens. Is it possible that the older lens is not correct for the newer sensors. I may have to go to my local photo shop and have someone check this out.
Thanks again for your response.
Mike

 

[Overread]

Take the lens cap off the camera and set the camera to auto mode (or any mode that isn't live view mode). Now look into the camera, you should see a mirror filling most of the gap behind the lens mount reflecting like up into the mirror box. I'm saying to check this as I can't think of anything in auto mode that would cause the viewfinder itself to be black in a functioning camera.

There is a custom mode - Mirror lockup which will lock the mirror up, but you have to press the shutter to cause the mirror to flip up to start with in that mode (and you press it a second time for the camera to take the shot and then flip the mirror back down again).

There is also the fact that many modern DSLRs have active crystal screens in their viewfinder so the screen can appear frosted or dark when there is no batteries in the camera.

However with power on and in auto mode you should at least be able to see through the viewfinder.

 

[mr.mike]

Thank you for your response. I'm hoping this is something that can be rectified. But if not, it's going back to its original owner.
Thanks again,
Mike

 

[mr.mike]

I can see through the viewfinder, but nothing happens when I press the shutter. The auto focus feature on the lens does not move, and no activity on from the shutter. Once I put the mode selector back to the live position, I get an image on the screen. At this point, the camera will snap a photo.

 

[David444]

.

 

[Overread]

One consideration, give the copper coloured contacts on the base of the lens and just inside the camera lens mount a clean. It could be a faulty connection which is causing problems in some modes.

Just give them a rub with the eraser end of a pencil (I've also read that using the graphite end works as well, although be careful as that will generate graphite dust and you won't want to get that into the camera housing).

 

[mr.mike]

No I haven't. I'll give it a try.
Thank you,
Mike

 

[mr.mike]

Thank you,
I'll give that a try as well. I'll report back once I've given your suggestions a try.
Mike

 

[mr.mike]

Thank you everyone,
It appears cleaning the contacts, and adjusting the settings got most of the job done. The lens now works perfect in the manual focus mode, but still won't function in autofocus. But I feel a bit more optimistic about the overall condition of the camera. I believe a few more tweaks and the addition of the new lens should get me where I need to be.
Thanks again,
Mike