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I have a Canon 80. Bought last August, still in warranty. Never dropped it, was never exposed to high humidity / cold / heat / dust. I always treated it with great care.

Yesterday I used it for quite a while to take videos. Each single video was less than 10 mins on average. Maybe a bit over an hour of overall video taking but the camera was turned on for a longer time. I also shot 3 photos (but in liveview mode). Everything worked as usual. Room temperature was around 24 degrees, nothing extreme.

This morning when I tried to take a picture through the viewfinder the camera locked apparently. After pressing the shutter the image was not previewed and then none of the controls would work anymore. I turned it off and heard the mirror unlocking. Turned it on again and shot some photos in live view, all fine.

I checked in the menu and turned off mirror lockup (I had turned it on in a previous session). With mirror lockup off shooting with the viewfinder works fine.

Turning mirror lockup on caused the same problem again: shooting through the viewfinder locks the camera. When activating the shutter you can hear a small mechanical sound but not the complete sound that I usually hear. After restarting the camera I checked if the picture had been taken. It had not.

Previously I have used mirror lockup in a few occasions and it always worked fine.

What I would like to ask is: should I check other settings that would explain this behavior or should I just contact Canon maintenance service to have it fixed?

Thank you

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Did you try with freshly charged battery? \$\endgroup\$
    – Romeo Ninov
    May 14, 2020 at 8:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Just tried. The problem remains. \$\endgroup\$
    – Duncan Drake
    May 14, 2020 at 9:12

1 Answer 1

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When taking still images with mirror lockup using the viewfinder, you must press the shutter button twice: once to raise the mirror and lock it there and a second time to activate the shutter. The only controls that will work during this time are the shutter button and the On/Off switch. None of the camera's other controls will be responsive while the camera is waiting for you to press the shutter button to take the photo.

If you do not press the shutter button again within thirty seconds of locking up the mirror, the mirror will reset (drop down).

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thank you! I had got it wrong. Before I used the mirror lockup only with the 10 seconds delay to take pictures of the moon. In that case only one click was required. When in normal mode the camera works just as you say, with two clicks to take the photo. I had misunderstood that part. Operator's fault, not camera's :-) \$\endgroup\$
    – Duncan Drake
    May 16, 2020 at 7:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ To get the full benefit of mirror lockup, you should use an alternate method of releasing the shutter. I use a wired remote cable release. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    May 16, 2020 at 7:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ I could use remote shutter through wifi but that drains the battery more. Is something wrong with the shutter delay? either 2s or 10s \$\endgroup\$
    – Duncan Drake
    May 16, 2020 at 7:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ Two seconds is usually not enough time for all vibrations to end after the act of pressing the shutter button on the camera unless you have a really heavy, stable tripod (like a higher end "dual stage" video tripod). With a really flimsy tripod, 10 seconds might not be enough time. Generic wired remotes can be had for $5-20. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    May 16, 2020 at 19:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ I did not know vibrations could last that long. Will get a wired remote then. Thank you! \$\endgroup\$
    – Duncan Drake
    May 18, 2020 at 9:23

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