a few years ago, i got an iphone… which killed my dslr usage. and then, at some point in the last three years, the autofocus on my dslr stopped working. i could still use manual focus, but… meh.

i’ve taken my dslr out for the past couple of weekends, though (hence all of the photos from the cat show that i went to last weekend). it feels good to hold. it feels good to take good photos. i might still be shoddy at uploading and sharing, but these things take time. i wanna get this habithobby back in my life.

the manual focus thing is really annoying, though. sometimes my eyes just hurt too much to focus well. i don’t mind doing it sometimes, but all of the time? no thanks. google to the rescue, though!

i have a canon rebel xsi. maybe you do, too? here are some fixes that helped me:

1. If the autofocus does not operate when you half-press the shutter button, it might be because the setting for the [C.Fn-9] custom function has been changed to 1. In that case, the setting is set to use AE lock (which fixes the exposure) when the shutter button is half-pressed, so change the setting to 0.

   (source)
   I found this setting on my camera by pressing “Menu” then scrolling over the sixth icon, a white wrench on a yellow background. Select the first item, “Custom Functions(C.Fn)”, then scroll to option #10: Shutter/AE lock button and make sure it’s set to 0. In fact, if you look across the bottom of the C.Fn screen, the entire bottom row of tiny numbers should be all set to 0 (at least they are for me).

2. Turns out it was the outer focus ring at the end of the lens that was stuck – which makes perfect sense as it wouldn’t take a photo since the focus ring wouldn’t move. Try this. Set it to MF. Hold the very end of the lens – (this is what focuses the lens – the larger grip is the zoom) – give it a gentle twist to see if it unsticks. If it does unstick, put it back to AF and try taking a picture.

   (source) Although I didn’t necessarily feel anything “sticky” when I tried this, it’s worked a couple of times. So if my autofocus doesn’t work again, I can just switch to manual, twist the lens, then switch back — and hopefully it’s good to go!

Although maybe sometime I could get a new camera, it’s not on the short list of future big expenses.

So I’ll just keep on keepin’ on!

P.S. That green tube thing is kinda like a Chinese fingertrap (it’s skinnier). You squeeze it between your fingers (like I’m holding it in the first photo), then goes flying. I was skeptical that it was a good cat toy, but the felines love the darn thing. Way to go, Chuck & Don’s.

P.P.S. I had a wine-o-venture with my friend, Vani, this weekend and I have a bunch of lovely photos. Maybe I’ll share them this week! Maybe. Right now I’m up past my bedtime.