Powershot A610 Problem

I've had my Powershot A610 (swivel LCD) for a little less than a year and half. It hasn't had any major problems, except for an E18 error last August from a lens that wouldn't retract, which was fixed by Canon and covered by my warranty.

Starting a little while ago, I would power up my camera and the screen would be black. All the icons were still visible, and I was able to take a picture, but when I switched over the mode to view the picture, it too was all black. However, after taking one or two of these "black" pictures, the camera would return to normal and function as it always had.

Today, I turned on my camera and the screen was black. However, even after taking HUNDREDS of blank photos, the LCD is still black (still, icons and the blue "Canon" logo appear at startup). I went onto the Canon website and typed in my serial number, etc. and was informed that the repair would be at least $110 (I'm not under warranty anymore), but of course that quote might go up once they receive the camera.

What I'm really wondering is the rough estimate for the repair of my camera. I would send it to Canon and wait to receive the final quote, but I do need a camera in about 3 weeks. I was kind of hoping to purchase a smaller model, like an SD600 or SD1000 anyway, and if the repair is going to be substantially more than the original Canon quote, I'd prefer to just purchase a new camera now.

Also, by no means am I a camera expert. Based on my research I think the problem could be a dead LCD or CCD, but I really have no idea. I'm pretty sure that I've covered all the possible troubleshooting options, but any of those suggestions would be welcome too.

Thanks!

I don't know ... 110 $ plus shipping plus - - - I'd very probably go for a new cam. I think you can get the A630 i.e. for about 200 $ - 8 MP, new warranty ... new cam.

Have you tried pressing the "Display" button a few times? Just a thought. And what do you see if you hook the camera up to a TV?

Nothing happens when I press the display button, except for the icons to pop up. When I plugged it into the TV, same thing.

Thanks for the suggestions nonetheless! I think I'm going to look at the SD1000 today. I want something compact and it seems to have solid features, and hopefully it won't have the same problems as my current camera!

I had a similar problem, believing it to be with the batteries... did you put HOT batteries in the camera, immediately after chargeup (assuming you charged batteries)? That happened with me, I think the batteries fried some stuff. This was with a Minolta camera. My dad didn't believe me and made the same mistake with a HP camera. So I believe it goes for all cameras. BUT I could be wrong and off track with what I said.