5 reasons your camera isn’t working
You have a new camera, you’re at an event, and you are so excited to start capturing what’s happening around you! But then, your camera won’t turn on, or it won’t allow you to take a picture or record video clips. What could possibly be happening?
Here are 5 reasons why your camera may not be working:
- The Battery
It may seem obvious, but make sure your battery is charged. We can all forget to charge our batteries from time to time. Or perhaps your camera was in the cold for a bit, and those cold temperatures can zap your batteries charge quicker.
Second, you want to make sure your battery is making a solid connection with the camera. Is there a plastic clip that secures your battery in place? Is that piece working? Is your battery door fully closed? Some cameras won’t turn on if the battery door isn’t fully shut.
Here’s a bonus tip: some aftermarket batteries don’t play nicely with their intended cameras. If you are using a cheaper alternative than your OEM battery, make sure there isn’t a known issue what that particular aftermarket brand and your specific camera!
- SD Card
The first thing you should do is make sure your SD card is formatted in your camera. Second, you’ll want to make sure the SD card isn’t locked. There is a little plastic tab on the upper left side of your card. If that tab is slid in the downward position, that locks the card to protect the data from being erased or overwritten. It won’t be able to save anything new, and it won’t be able to be formatted to your camera either. Make sure the tab is unlocked, or in the top-most position.
Bonus tip: Depending on the type of camera you have, and what you are trying to do, the read and write speeds of the card itself can have an impact on whether you can use your camera. For instance, if you are trying to record a video clip at 4k resolution at 60 frames per second, and your SD card can’t keep up, your camera won’t allow you to record for more than a few seconds, or sometimes, it won’t allow you to record at all! Make sure to check your camera’s recommendations for SD card specifications to avoid this.
- Lens
The lens is a crucial component of your camera. The lens you use can have an impact on your composition and compression of the scene. It can also cause some headaches due to a few factors that won’t allow your camera to operate properly. First, make sure your lens is properly seated on the mount of your camera. This means that it’s making a solid connection and is fully rotated onto your camera until you hear it click. Sometimes it helps to make sure your lens and camera are clean and free of any dust and debris so the connection is the best it can be.
Second, ensure the lens you want to use will work with your camera. There are a variety of lens mounts, especially these days when DLSRs are in transition to mirrorless cameras. Those two styles of cameras have different mounting options and a lens adapter is needed to make one type work with the other. You may also need to take sensor size into account. Full frame lenses usually work on any camera type within that brand and camera style, but crop sensor lenses are only meant to work with crop sensor cameras. Make sure you know what sensor size you have and what lenses are completely compatible with your camera, especially if you are buying a used lens and aren’t sure if the lens will fit on your camera.
Bonus tip: There may be a default setting on your camera that won’t allow your camera to take a photo if there isn’t a lens attached. This can be a problem if you buy a manual-only lens that isn’t recognized by your camera. There is a setting in your menu to turn this setting off. If everything else regarding your lens seems correct, meaning you can see an image on your screen but the shutter won’t release, check to make sure this setting “release shutter w/o lens” is turned off.
- Software
As previously mentioned in the bonus tip, there are settings turned on by default meant to help you safeguard against not capturing the shot by not allowing you to take a photo without a lens or SD. This can be detrimental though if say, you are using an external recorder for video and you don’t have or need an SD card in your camera in order to record to the external recorder. Make sure that your menu options are set up in a way to meet your particular needs.
Bonus tip: Most modern cameras have firmware updates that can give your camera a boost in autofocus speeds and other cool features. It’s also helpful to keep your camera updated to make sure your software is free of any potential bugs and operating at its optimal level. Visit your manufacturer’s webpage and look for downloads or firmware updates and follow the instructions. It’s usually a fairly simple process that can involve saving the update on an SD card and putting that card into your camera. Some cameras make it even easier and it can all be done with an app and Bluetooth connection to your phone!
- Miscellaneous reasons
Make sure you are pressing the shutter button the whole way down. Cameras have a two-step shutter button. When the shutter is half-pressed, that usually activated autofocus and exposure readings. You need to go beyond this point and fully press the shutter button down to take a photo or start recording.
Bonus tip: Make sure your camera isn’t set to a delayed shutter mode. Cameras have a built-in timer to delay taking a photo for 2 seconds or 10 seconds. This can be extremely useful for astrophotography or if you want to take a family photo and be in the photo yourself. Having a delay to be able to run into the photo, or to allow for any camera movement to settle before the shutter clicks is great, however, if you aren’t expecting a delay and you press the button only to have nothing happen, that can be disconcerting. Before you panic, check your drive settings to make sure your timer delay isn’t switched on.