Problems with 40d or is it just me? (1 Viewer)

I've had a 40d for about 3 months now and have generally been very happy with it. I managed to get some muck on the sensor after about a month so had it sent off to canon for cleaning. The camera returned 3 weeks later and seemed to work fine. I recently took it to ecuador on holiday and was using it with a 400mm 5.6 canon lens. Whilst here I noticed a slight problem.

Every now and then I would focus on a bird, the centre af point would light up and I'd press the shutter yet nothing would happen. On other occasions the shutter fired without a hitch. Initially I thought it might be because the subject was under cover so light levels were poor, (iso 800 - 1600). Recently I tried to photograph spotted flycatcher in this country against a tree background, (iso 400) and the same thing happened. Does this sound like a problem with the camera or a problem with the organic operating system?

My settings are auto iso, A1 servo, centre af point selected, spot metering, Aperture priority, fast continous shooting. I have tried changing some of these settings and found the same thing happened from time to time. I have checked the trouble shooting section in the manual and can't find any reference to this kind of problem.

I previously used a 400d and never had a problem taking exposures even when subjects were against complex backgrounds or in poor light conditions. Also this never happened before I sent the camera for sensor cleaning. Could some setting have been reset or altered during the cleaning process?

Any ideas gratefully received.
Gordon.

gordthelord said:

Every now and then I would focus on a bird, the centre af point would light up and I'd press the shutter yet nothing would happen.
Gordon.

Click to expand...

Could be the shutter button playing up Gordon. I had this happen on my 40D - it would be ok for a while and then it would fail to fire. In the end my shutter went and while it was being repaired they also renewed the button contacts.

This can sometimes happen if a very small piece of grit gets in under the shutter button.

If you google for '40D shutter button problem' you will see lots of discussions on this issue.

Does anything come up on the display when the shutter fails to fire? It could also be a problem that the camera cannot store the data because the buffer is full or at least the camera 'thinks' the buffer is full.

I like Roy had a similar problem with my 30D eventually the shutter gave up.
It would be worth checking if your Lens and camera are making good contact check if your contacts are clean and that the camera and lens are fitting firmly.
best of luck