# Canon T1i won’t automatically focus



## Rwalters93 (Mar 27, 2018)

My camera won’t focus, I’m not use to the buttons or how they work, just what my mom showed me, but the auto focus for my regular lens will not work. Can anyone give me advice as to what I can do?


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## beagle100 (Mar 27, 2018)

Rwalters93 said:


> My camera won’t focus, I’m not use to the buttons or how they work, just what my mom showed me, but the auto focus for my regular lens will not work. Can anyone give me advice as to what I can do?



is the lens switch set to "AF" ?


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## weepete (Mar 27, 2018)

There's usually a small switch on the lens that says MF and AF, make sure that's switched to AF. Then put the mode dial to the green box and see if that works


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## Rwalters93 (Mar 27, 2018)

I’ve tried that


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## Rwalters93 (Mar 27, 2018)

beagle100 said:


> Rwalters93 said:
> 
> 
> > My camera won’t focus, I’m not use to the buttons or how they work, just what my mom showed me, but the auto focus for my regular lens will not work. Can anyone give me advice as to what I can do?
> ...


Yes, but it still won’t work


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## RowdyRay (Mar 27, 2018)

Ok. What lens are you trying to use? Are the contacts clean?


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## Rwalters93 (Mar 27, 2018)

RowdyRay said:


> Ok. What lens are you trying to use? Are the contacts clean?


18-55mm and where exactly where are the contacts?


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## RowdyRay (Mar 27, 2018)

Not the greatest of videos, but will explain what I meant. Are you getting an error code? Do you have any other lenses? Do they work?


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## Rwalters93 (Mar 28, 2018)

RowdyRay said:


> Not the greatest of videos, but will explain what I meant. Are you getting an error code? Do you have any other lenses? Do they work?


No error code & yes I have one other lens & it works fine. Thank you for the video.


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## RowdyRay (Mar 28, 2018)

Rwalters93 said:


> RowdyRay said:
> 
> 
> > Not the greatest of videos, but will explain what I meant. Are you getting an error code? Do you have any other lenses? Do they work?
> ...



If the contacts are clean and it still isn't working, then the lens may have something broken inside. Unless it's under warranty, not worth it to have it repaired. They can be found used for cheap.

Might be a perfect excuse to replace it with a better lens.


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## beagle100 (Mar 28, 2018)

RowdyRay said:


> Rwalters93 said:
> 
> 
> > RowdyRay said:
> ...



yes, time to upgrade that 18-55 kit lens
w*ww.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless*


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## TCampbell (Apr 6, 2018)

The EF-S 18-55mm is a very inexpensive lens, but it doesn't have a high build-quality.  It's designed with "affordability" in mind so that you can get a camera body + lens combination at a rate mere mortals can afford.... and then let you upgrade your system over time.

The replacement for it is the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 STM (it's the "STM" tag that is important ... that indicates the lens has Canon's new "stepper motor" technology).  The stepper motor will seem quite a bit different because it's a "focus by wire" lens (when you rotate the focus ring, it's just an electronic input ... there is no mechanical linkage from the focus ring to the focusing elements within the lens).  But this also means that the focus motor will only move the lens when the focus system is active (if you rotate the manual focus ring when the camera's focus system isn't active then nothing will happen.)   But this new STM lens is better than the previous 18-55 in many ways... optically, build-quality, responsiveness, etc. etc.  many things have been improved.

The price of the STM is only $50 more than the non-STM version and, in my opinion, it's worth every penny of those $50 for all the improvements.

If you've got some extra funds... the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM would be the lens to get.  That lens is a lower focal ratio lens (it collects more light ... because it is physically larger) and it can provide an f/2.8 focal ratio at any focal length (unlike your currently lens which has a max aperture of f/3.5 but only at the 18mm end and it quickly drops to f/5.6.  An f/2.8 lens collects 4x more light than an f/5.6 lens.  That means you can shoot in darker situations without having to boost the ISO as much... or instead you could use shutter speeds up to 4x faster.)


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## espresso2x (Apr 6, 2018)

Rwalters93 said:


> My camera won’t focus, I’m not use to the buttons or how they work, just what my mom showed me, but the auto focus for my regular lens will not work. Can anyone give me advice as to what I can do?



Try taking the lens off the camera and then put it on again.


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## Rwalters93 (Apr 11, 2018)

TCampbell said:


> The EF-S 18-55mm is a very inexpensive lens, but it doesn't have a high build-quality.  It's designed with "affordability" in mind so that you can get a camera body + lens combination at a rate mere mortals can afford.... and then let you upgrade your system over time.
> 
> The replacement for it is the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 STM (it's the "STM" tag that is important ... that indicates the lens has Canon's new "stepper motor" technology).  The stepper motor will seem quite a bit different because it's a "focus by wire" lens (when you rotate the focus ring, it's just an electronic input ... there is no mechanical linkage from the focus ring to the focusing elements within the lens).  But this also means that the focus motor will only move the lens when the focus system is active (if you rotate the manual focus ring when the camera's focus system isn't active then nothing will happen.)   But this new STM lens is better than the previous 18-55 in many ways... optically, build-quality, responsiveness, etc. etc.  many things have been improved.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much! I will definitely look into that!!!


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## Rwalters93 (Apr 11, 2018)

espresso2x said:


> Rwalters93 said:
> 
> 
> > My camera won’t focus, I’m not use to the buttons or how they work, just what my mom showed me, but the auto focus for my regular lens will not work. Can anyone give me advice as to what I can do?
> ...


I have tried that. I’ve basically tried everything, just think it’s time to upgrade!!


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## TCampbell (Apr 11, 2018)

Rwalters93 said:


> I have tried that. I’ve basically tried everything, just think it’s time to upgrade!!



If it's the camera, the T1i body is too old to be worthwhile upgrading (it may actually be too old for Canon to still stock parts).

Though there are lots of choices, Canon does sell "refurbished" bodies on their own website and these tend to be about the best prices you can find considering they come with the same warranty as a "new" camera and usually beat anybody's sale prices (I think just once I found an exception).  As you price shop, go to the Canon website, check their store section, and look for the refurbished section in the store.  BTW, as these are refurbished, the supply comes and goes ... so what you want may not necessarily be in stock (but it's certainly worth checking).

The latest in the Rebel series is the T7i and it's counterpart is the 77D (they are nearly identical w.r.t. capabilities and performance, sensor, etc. but the 77D has a 2nd control dial (located on the back of the body) and an LCD display on the top of the camera body.  Basically it's controls are positioned a bit more like the mid-range and pro bodies).  

I will say the T7I & 77D are quite a substantial upgrade.  Each year Canon releases a newer Rebel body with is an incremental improvement over the prior year's body.  This year, however, they changed more than I've seen them change in quite a long time.  The sensor is new and significantly improved.  The focus system is new and basically is the first of the Rebels to get the focus system that works much more like the mid-range and high-end bodies.   

On a budget... the Rebel SL2 is probably one of the better bargains because it got the same sensor and capabilities as the T7i & 77D... but it doesn't have the same focus system.

And of course if you're not on a budget... there are loads more options.


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## sniper x (Jul 30, 2018)

Try this simple test. Look thru the menu, look to see if someone changed it to back button focus. I did this on my T1i and all my DSLR's and a lot of owners do.

here is how to set the T1i to BBF. but it is also a way to check to see if someone did it already thereby disallowing your shutter release from making the focus work. 

If you've got a EOS Rebel (T1i, T2i, T3i, T4i, T5i), the menu you're looking for is under the third wrench icon, under Custom Functions.

The function you'd like to change is:

C.FnIV: Operation/Others [9]
Shutter/AE Lock Button

Change the setting to 3: AE/AF, no AE lock.

Voila.


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