Is my camera broken?

dirtydog · 12 Feb 2008 at 17:20

I turned on my camera today to take some photos and the LCD display just shows blackness. I charged up the batteries again to make sure they weren't at fault but no difference. The screen itself is working because I can select different menu options okay, but as far as taking a photo goes, it is just black. My camera is nearly four years old, a Canon Powershot A60.

Is there any way of making it work again or is it knackered and I need to buy a new one?

The lens cap is open btw!

Bubo · 12 Feb 2008 at 20:27

I had a Canon A70 do this to me though instead of a black screen mine gave a very distorted and smeared image from the sensor, text was ok as you say. There was no warning or deterioration to this it just happened one day. I had it about 3 years. In the end I just took it apart to see what was inside, then binned it.

Raikiri · 12 Feb 2008 at 20:33

Have you tried taking a picture, assuming they come out ok it may be something to do with the connection between the sensor and screen.

This may be of use: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/11/canon-digital-cameras-showing-black.html

dirtydog · 13 Feb 2008 at 06:47

Aha, thanks for that link, very informative. It seems my camera has an inherent fault then which Canon will repair for free, even though the warranty has run out. I will pursue that avenue and try to get a free repair done.

hyster · 13 Feb 2008 at 12:33

Raikiri said:
Have you tried taking a picture, assuming they come out ok it may be something to do with the connection between the sensor and screen.

This may be of use: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/11/canon-digital-cameras-showing-black.html

Great piece of information there, thanks for posting that, helpfull to me too.

dirtydog · 27 Feb 2008 at 07:29

I got the free repair done and it is now working perfectly \o/

danza · 27 Feb 2008 at 07:47

Blimey, that was quick!

Glad to hear it works again now

yipyipboo · 27 Feb 2008 at 08:22

typical, I have an A70 that did this about a year ago. Only last Friday curiousity got the better of me and I dismantled it to see if it was anything obvious. There wasn't and now I have a camera in about 500 bits!

dirtydog · 27 Feb 2008 at 08:49

yipyipboo said:
typical, I have an A70 that did this about a year ago. Only last Friday curiousity got the better of me and I dismantled it to see if it was anything obvious. There wasn't and now I have a camera in about 500 bits!

Shame you didn't see this thread first! You could have got a free repair too

The repair company apparently replaced the CCD unit on my camera.

yipyipboo · 27 Feb 2008 at 13:00

dirtydog said:
Shame you didn't see this thread first! You could have got a free repair too

The repair company apparently replaced the CCD unit on my camera.

he, I could always try and put it back together, although after the belts I got from the flash capacitor I probably give it a miss.

edit: anyone fancy it?

robmiller · 27 Feb 2008 at 17:10

Same thing happened to my mum's A60 a few years ago, three times. Kept getting it repaired but eventually they caved and gave here a replacement (an A640).