If your Canon Rebel T6 won’t take pictures then this post will help.
This can also apply to other Canon Rebel cameras.
Before you do anything, try to rule out whether it is the lens or camera at fault.
You can do this by using a different lens on the camera if you have one at hand.
If you don’t have a spare lens then don’t worry, just try to follow the guidelines of this post and you should be able to figure out what the problem is.
It tends to be an easy fix but you just need to know what you are looking for.
Table of Contents
1. Camera Tries But Fails To Focus
“My camera keeps zooming in and out or trying to focus but never does and it won’t take a picture”
It might seem a bit like the camera is zooming in or out slightly but it is not. It is just trying to find a focus point.
If this is the case then it is highly likely that your camera is set to autofocus mode, but it is unable to focus.
A very quick way to check this is by doing the following:
- Make sure the ‘AF/MF’ switch on your lens is set to ‘MF’.
- Set your camera to fully automatic mode (this is the ‘green square mode’)
- Go outside to a location with plenty of daylight.
- Point your camera at a scene a moderate distance away from you (i.e don’t point your camera at a wall only an inch from the camera)
- Try to take the photograph.
- If your camera takes the photograph then your issue is that your camera is struggling to autofocus.
If the Canon Rebel T6 cannot achieve focus in one-shot autofocus mode then it will not take any pictures.
If this scenario sounds like yours then you will definitely find the following post helpful.
2. Will Take A Picture But Takes Ages
“Camera focuses fine but when I press the shutter the camera takes about 10 seconds to take a picture. The shutter speed is not a long exposure shutter speed and is set to something fairly standard (e.g. 1/200.)”
If this scenario sounds like you then check if the camera has been put on to a self-timer mode.
For example, you may have the camera set to a self-timer of 10 seconds.
Turn this off and try to take a picture again to see if the issue is resolved.
Here’s how to turn off the self timer setting on the Canon Rebel T6:
- On your camera body, press the button to the left of the ‘SET’ button.
- The camera will show you the ‘Drive/Self-timer mode’ settings.
- If your camera is set to any self timer mode it will be on one of the icons that look like a stopwatch.
- Select either single shooting (one rectangle) or continuous shooting (multiple rectangles) mode. These are the first and second options in the list.
- Try again to take a picture and the delay should now be gone when taking a picture.
3. You Might Not Have A SD Card (Or You Have A Faulty One)
The camera may not take a picture if there is no SD card inside but this should be obvious as the camera normally shows an error message.
It could also be that you have an SD card inserted but it is faulty.
Try using a different SD card if you have one.
4. You Might Be In One Shot Mode
One shot mode is an auto focus mode which locks focus once and keeps focused on that spot.
In this mode, the camera will only allow you to take a picture if the camera believes it has achieved focus.
This is called ‘Focus priority’ because the camera needs to make sure that the photograph is in focus before allowing you to take the photograph.
There could be a variety of reasons for why the camera is struggling to focus which we describe in our article which explains why your Rebel T6 can’t focus.
There are two ways to get around this issue.
Use Manual Focus
One way to get around this is to change to manual focus and try to take the picture because the camera will ignore the autofocus setting.
Being in manual focus mode will allow you to take the photograph regardless of whether the camera thinks the photo is in focus.
Use AI Servo
Another way is to continue using autofocus but using AI Servo mode instead of One Shot.
AI Servo mode changes the camera’s settings so that it is in ‘Release priority’ so it can still take the photograph even if the camera thinks that the picture is not in focus.
See below for instructions on how to set your camera to be in AI Servo mode.
To do 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.
Conclusion
Hopefully you now know why your camera is unable to take pictures.
If your camera is still not taking pictures then check out our post on focusing issues for the Rebel T6.
If after that your Rebel T6 is still not taking pictures then we recommend taking it to a camera repair shop or a Canon service centre to be checked.
A repair may be necessary.
Thanks for reading!
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