Under normal circumstances the Canon EOS Rebel T6 (also known as the EOS 1300D) will autofocus onto a subject when you ‘half-press’ the shutter button.
After the half-press, you can press the shutter button fully down to take the picture.
For the majority of people, there’s never any problems with this.
But sometimes your Canon Rebel T6 just won’t autofocus how you want.
There are a few reasons why your Canon Rebel T6 may not be focusing.
Here’s a quick summary of the reasons:
- AF/MF switch is set to MF
- Camera is too close to subject
- Lens is not attached correctly
- Contacts need cleaning
- There’s not enough light
- Your subject is moving
- Custom settings need to be adjusted
Some of the reasons have easy fixes but some are harder and potentially more costly to fix.
The reason your Canon Rebel T6 is not focusing could either be one of the following or a combination of them.
I’ve described 7 possible solutions in this post.
Table of Contents
1. Check That The AF/MF Switch Is Set To Auto Focus
On your lens or camera body, you will have a switch which should let you switch between AF/MF.
If your switch is set to MF then your camera is set to manual focus which may be the reason it is not utilising autofocus to focus.
Switch your camera to AF so that autofocus is enabled.
Remember that this is not to do with auto vs manual mode in terms of exposure. This is just auto vs manual mode for focus.
2. Camera Is Too Close To The Subject
All cameras and lenses have a minimum focusing distance.
This basically means that in order to focus on something the subject has to be at least a certain distance away from the focal plane mark on the camera.
You can find the focal plane mark on the camera body. It is also known as the film plane indicator.
It looks like a circle with a line going straight through it.
For example, the minimum focus distance for the Canon Rebel T6 is 25cm when using the EF-S 18-55mm kit lens.
If you are trying to photograph something that is closer than 25cm to the focal plane mark then the camera will struggle to focus on this.
Try moving the subject further away or stepping away from the subject to see if the camera is now able to focus.
If your Rebel T6 is still unable to focus then it is likely to be one of the other reasons on this list.
3. The Lens Might Not Be Attached Correctly
The lens and the camera body have contacts which allow them to communicate with each other.
This is how autofocus is able to work.
If the lens and camera body are not attached correctly then the contacts may not be aligned in the right way.
This would stop the lens and body communicating correctly.
With no communication between the two parts, auto focus is impossible.
Try to remove the lens and reattach it correctly.
To align the lens correctly look for either the white square or red dot on your Canon lens.
Align the white square or red circle on your lens to the same square or circle on your camera body where the lens will be mounted.
Now attach the lens and rotate it clockwise until the lens locks into place.
The lens should click into place and not be loose.
If your lens does not seem secure you may have an issue such as a loose screw on the body or the lens.
If you’re feeling unsure about removing and reattaching your lens you can check out the video below for some guidance.
A quick way to tell if this is an issue on your camera body or your lens is to try it with a different lens and see if there is an issue with all lenses or just one.
Get this checked out by a camera repair shop or Canon service centre if you do notice that the lens is not attaching correctly.
If you have reattached your lens and it seems fine but auto focus is still not working then it could be another issue.
4. Contacts Need Cleaning
This solution follows on from the previous issue about the lens and body communicating.
The camera and lens communicate through metal contacts.
The lens and camera may attach together fine and seem secure but the contacts may still need addressing.
If these contacts are dirty or damaged then information cannot be passed accurately between the camera body and the lens – stopping autofocus from working.
You can either take your equipment to a camera repair shop to have them clean it or you can try it yourself.
The contacts on the lens and camera body are delicate parts and if you’re not careful you can damage and ruin both which can be very costly.
Below are some cleaning instructions directly from this Canon support page.
“If the lens contact and camera contact are dirty, transmission will not occur normally and autofocus might not operate correctly.
If the lens and camera contacts are dirty, wipe them with a clean, dry cloth, being careful to not scratch the contacts.
CAUTION
Cautions when Cleaning the Contacts
- Do not wipe the contacts with a wet cloth. Doing so could cause malfunctions.
- Do not touch the contacts directly by hand. Doing so could cause corrosion, and cause the camera to stop operating.
- When cleaning the lens contact, be careful to avoid scratching the lens surface.
- If the contact area is particularly dirty, contact a Canon customer service center for assistance.“
If you feel uncomfortable doing this yourself it is recommended that you take it to a camera repair shop or an authorised Canon service centre.
5. Not Enough Light
In low light situations, cameras tend to struggle to autofocus because of the lack of contrast between lights and darks.
One way around this is to allow more light into the camera.
You can do this by using a wider aperture.
E.g. f/1.8 will let in more light than f/4
You can also slow down the shutter speed.
E.g. Shutter speed of 1/60 will let in double the light as 1/120
Some other ways you can help with focus in low light is by adding some artificial lighting to the scene.
- Shining a laser on the subject (DO NOT point this at someones eyes)
- Turn a flashlight on and point it at the subject
- If the subject is a person then ask them to hold a smartphone screen up.
- Use lighting such as an external flash or a softbox.
The video below demonstrates some of these tips above.
If you are using the flashlight, laser or smartphone trick, you are mainly using these just to lock the focus in the same focal plane as your subject.
You would then turn the light/laser/smartphone off and take the photograph with the correct exposure.
6. Your Subject Is Moving
In specific circumstances you might not be able to autofocus because the subject is simply moving too fast for the camera to react.
This is mainly an issue if the subject is moving between different focal planes.
If the subject is moving towards you or away from you then it is constantly changing focal planes.
If the subject is moving parallel to you then it is staying in the same focal plane.
For example, in sports photography, air shows and bird photography the subjects may be moving quite fast across different focal planes.
By the time your Rebel T6 focuses on the subject, the subject may move into a different focal plane – so the autofocus cannot work effectively.
One simple fix is to check that you are using the correct autofocus mode.
On a Canon Rebel T6 there are a few autofocus modes to pick from that you may not know about.
The options are:
- One-shot AF – use this for still subjects.
- AI Servo AF – use this for moving subjects. Continuously tracks a moving subject to focus.
- AI Focus AF – this is a hybrid of the two above.
If you are photographing moving subjects, set your camera to AI servo AF and see if you are now able to focus on your subject.
To enable this you can press the AF button on the camera body and then select AI Servo.
You can also press the ‘Q’ button, select the focus option then choose AI Servo from there.
The video below explains this concept and also shows you how to do it on a Canon camera as well as a Nikon camera.
7. Check the Custom Function Settings
As I mentioned at the start, autofocus normally works by half-pressing the shutter button to lock in the focus.
If you have changed some of the settings on the camera by accident this may not work.
1. Go to your Settings Menu
2. Navigate to the second last tab which has a yellow wrench icon
3. Select Custom Functions (C.Fn)
4. Go to Custom function IV: Operation/ Others
5. Scroll to right to number 8 ‘Shutter/AE lock button’
6. You should see 4 setting options here numbered as 0,1,2 and 3. The default setting on the camera is the setting ‘0: AF/AE Lock’
7. If you have the camera set to one of the other settings try going back to the default ‘0’ setting.
8. Try to autofocus as normal now.
9. If this doesn’t work then try setting 2 as this works in a similar way for the autofocus.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by going through this list you’ve corrected any issues with your autofocus struggles on your Canon Rebel T6 (1300D).
If there are still issues then it is recommended that you get your camera and lens seen by a camera repair shop or a Canon service centre.
If you manage to get your Camera to start focusing but it still can’t take pictures or takes a long time then you might like the following post: