Camera not focusing

grandmaR

I was out at the Oyster Festival today. The camera was working as normal. Suddenly, it would refuse to take a photo. Or if it did take a photo, I would have given up and it would take a photo of something that wasn't quite right- something I had not intended to take a photo of.

I thought at first that there was something wrong with the shutter, but when I got home and looked at it, I realized that it was just not focusing. If I used manual focus, I could take photos, but the lens was hard to turn and would not focus right.

I took the lens off and moved it back and forth until it worked freely, and put it back on,and now it seems to work OK

My questions are

1) What did I do to cause this?
2) Where is the quickest place to get it fixed if it happens again?

I ask because I'm going on a cruise at the end of October and while I am on the cruise I intend to use the camera a great deal.

ziggy53

What camera and what lens (exactly)?

Please post a picture, or a link to a picture, which has full EXIF, and was taken during the problem time.

grandmaR

Oops - sorry. Canon Eos Rebel - normal 18-55 mm lens.

i live in a very rural area of Maryland - about 100 miles south of Baltmore.

ziggy53

grandmaR wrote: »

Oops - sorry. Canon Eos Rebel - normal 18-55 mm lens.

i live in a very rural area of Maryland - about 100 miles south of Baltmore.

If it's an original Canon Digital Rebel with an original Canon EF-S 18–55mm lens f/3.5–5.6 kit lens then that lens is getting up in the years. It may simply be old enough to fail.

It may also have a switch which can slip in between manual and auto-focus.

I believe that the focus ring rotates during autofocus, so that anything mounted on the front of the lens might impede the focus.

The lens is not sealed so that dirt and sand can get into the front of the lens, impeding focus.

I would bet that whatever caused the problems will not get better and/or go away. My recommendation is to replace the lens with a newer version, like Canon's 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS or the version II of that lens.

Alternately, you could both replace and upgrade the lens with something much better, like the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR Di-II LD SP Aspherical (IF) in Canon EF mount, for instance.

grandmaR

I've only had the camera 2 years and the lens came with it. Is that old?

When I look at the frong of the lens, it says
CANON ZOOM LENS EF-S 18.5 mm 1:3.t-t.y IS II

So it looks like that is the lens you are recommending that I get (?)

I think what happened is that when I picked up the camera from the basket of my mobility scooter, the camera banged on the lens, and that knocked it out of alginment a little bit. Or else it happened when I tried to climb up into the viewing stands. The first step was so high it took three people to get me up onto it and maybe it hit something then - it was hafter that that t stopped working well. It seems to work OK now.

ziggy53

grandmaR wrote: »

I've only had the camera 2 years and the lens came with it. Is that old?

When I look at the frong of the lens, it says
CANON ZOOM LENS EF-S 18.5 mm 1:3.t-t.y IS II

So it looks like that is the lens you are recommending that I get (?)

I think what happened is that when I picked up the camera from the basket of my mobility scooter, the camera banged on the lens, and that knocked it out of alginment a little bit. Or else it happened when I tried to climb up into the viewing stands. The first step was so high it took three people to get me up onto it and maybe it hit something then - it was hafter that that t stopped working well. It seems to work OK now.

Thanks for providing the more accurate description of the lens and the details of its history of use.

Yes, you should never allow the lens to be "banged" and yes, it probably did cause the focus mechanism to be misaligned. While it may work OK for now, there may be internal damage as well. It's your call whether to replace the lens as the same problem may reoccur or there may be other unseen problems as a result of the lens being "banged".

At very least, have the lens inspected by a qualified technician before any important use.

grandmaR

So how can I do that? I mean where will I find a qualified technician?

pathfinder

Canon offers Canon Factory Service at several locations across the country, and has one in New Jersey -- http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/standard_display/support_pro/pro_service-locations

On that page there is a link at the bottom explaining in detail how you can arrange to mail your camera and lens to them for checking or repair. You can arrange for a checkup on line as that link will explain.

Modern cameras are very able, but one thing they do not excel at is getting "bumped"

grandmaR

Since I am leaving on a trip next week, I don't have a very good feeling about being able to get the camera back before I leave. When I clicked on that website I very quickly got to an error page which doesn't give me a good feeling about it. I think Newport News would be closer to me - NJ is twice as far.

The first thing they want to know is the date of purchase, and I don't know if I can find that very quickly.

It would be easier to buy a whole new camera. (Almost) I don't know if it would be cheaper too.

pathfinder

I doubt you can get round trip service in less than one week by Canon Factory Service. You might find a local camera store that sells Canon, and see if they can help you.

If you want to go through Canon Factory Service, you can find their locations, and telephone numbers here - http://usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/standard_display/support_pro/pro_service-locations

I have used the services of the Jamesburg, New Jersey vendor many times, and my door to door service was less than two weeks, from central Indiana.

CameraHero

I had the same problem, and what happened was my switch slipped.

grandmaR

The camera seems to be working OK now - one of the things I did when I was trying to figure out what had happened was move the auto focus switch back and forth. Maybe that was it.