50D focuses, then refuses to take picture

Hello all,

I was shooting an event on Friday with my 50D and I was having the hardest time with it.
It would focus, show the lock confirmed blink and then refuse to take the picture for a few seconds, and when it did it would sometimes be in a burst of two.

I figured the problem was the autofocus, because it was a dark room, but even when I set it to manual focus it continued. I know sometimes this will happen if it's on TV and it's too dark for the shutter speed, but I was shooting full manual so that can't be it?

I wasn't taking too many pictures, I took maybe 300 over the course of 3 hours so I don't think the card was buffering. I'm really sort of stumped as to what it could be.

Has anyone had this sort of issue before, and is it fixable?

If the focus green dot is blinking, then it means the camera didn't get the AF. As a result, won't let you snap the photo.
Try it in good day light. If the problem persists, then it has a problem.

It sounds like the shutter button is sticking. You can send it into Canon for repair or there is a procedure you can try at home to clean the button.
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=tB_gSqyidI0
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=7VQ6oKFxSzA

^ Thanks for those vids. I was having this same problem and decided to try it on my 50. We'll see what happens in the morning!

I have the same problem on my BG-E2. Canon couldn't reproduce it when it was still under warranty, so I've just been living with the frustration of intermittent reliability. I'll give this approach a try!

Took the batteries out, tilted the camera, poured alcohol, clicked shutter button ~100 times, let dry overnight, replaced batteries, shutter button works like new!

I suggest checking your shooting mode...you may be on 2 sec timer or 10 sec timer...