40D Shutter Release Button Not Working

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I experience a phenomenon where my 40D's shutter release buttondoes notwork properly. When I fully press the buttonit does nottrigger ashot, I press it again and it works, it happens sorandomly that I don't know when the button works and when it does not.


I fixed the problem by turning the camera off and pressing the release button down for about 100 times, I also did a circular motion while the button was fully pressed. The camera works fine for now. Has anybody experience the same problem? I have the feeling that my 18-month-old 40D's shutter release button is wearing out.


Thanks for your help.

[Daniel Browning]

I had that problem with my 20D sometimes, but only when I had been pushing it pretty hard (with high FPS). I'm pretty sure you're not talking about the times when it wont take the picture because it couldn't lock focus: that's not really a problem per se.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Thanks for the reply Daniel, no I wasn't talking about times when it won't take the picture because it can't lock focus. I use my 40D daily so I know when it's nice and when it's naughty[]

[Tom Alicoate]

I have not had this exact problem before on my 40D, but I did havesome problems withmy son's PS2 controller.one buttonjust needed to be cleaned because it would stick ever so slightly. Your process probably accomplished it to some degree. I am not sure if there is a good way to get in there maybe some slightly rough paper worked around the edge of the button could clean the sidewalls a little. The other problem was with the button not working due to the underlying rubber being ripped. That button had a small rubber "blister" for lack of a better word that would provide the spring force/resistance for the button. When it broke the button worked intermittently. This resulted in a purchase of a new controller. You could tell that this was the issue because the feel of the button was different. There was more play in it. I can't image the buttons on the camera are very different underneath. If someone else knows I would be interested to hear also.


Tom

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Tom, thanks for the reply


I forgot to mention that I did a 10-mile hike yesterday in a very dry and dusty environment with my camera hanging around my neck for the entire day. Maybe some dust got slipped under the button.


When this problem happened first thought was of mykeyboard and my PS controller, I beat the heck out of those two too, but they're easy to clean and fairly cheap to replace. BTW I don't think the rubber "blister" broke because the feel of the button is still normal and is exactly like the one on the vertical grip.

[peety3]

When this problem happened first thought was of mykeyboard and my PS controller, I beat the heck out of those two too, but they're easy to clean and fairly cheap to replace. BTW I don't think the rubber "blister" broke because the feel of the button is still normal and is exactly like the one on the vertical grip.
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Bingo! I'd suspect problems with your vertical grip. This happens on my girlfriend's 40D with increasing frequency lately. Sometimes removing/replacing the grip solves the problem, but once or twice I've had to put the camera together grip-less to get it to function. Makes me wish Canon made their battery doors and grips like my old Minolta (the grip had space for the camera's battery door still attached in its native position; no door removal necessary).

[Tobben]

I have posted pictures on how I fixed mine 40D shutter button! http://www.pbase.com/tobbenh/40dshutter If you follow this you do it at your own risk!

[BES]

Try taking battery out, putting it back in , this is what happened to me and now it works perfect.

[Oren]

That's super helpfull... thanks Tobben.


Hopefully I won't need to do it though at all, and if I do, I hope that my 5 year mack warranty would cover it at the time.





Anyhow, you showed how to open it, but you didn't explain how to FIX it. I saw a similar video on youtube (was that you?), what he did there was to open it (like you did), clean the button and then close it back - is that what you did as well?

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Wow this thread just came out of nowhere. Right when I just experienced this problem again few days ago.


Tobben, you have a lot of guts fixing that yourself, well I consider anybody that can open up their camera and fix thing themselves very courageous.


BE S, It could be a battery problem. I've found that the battery indicator on the 40D when using withthe vertical grip is not very accurate. It shows the charge level full even though I use the two batteries for along time. I normally charge my battery everytime I go out for a shoot, because of the June gloom here in Sol Cal I knew that I wouldn't shoot a lot on my outings so I didn't charge my battery. When the problem occured, I put in afresh chargedbattery and the camera worked fine.