Photos hopelessly dark

My S3 IS is about 4 years old, and in recent months, when it's first switched on, no light seems to get into it - the viewfinder's black, as are any pictures I take. After 10-20 black photos it slowly gets lighter until it will take normal pictures.

Recently it's getting much worse, taking ages to lighten up and is now practically unusable.

I wonder if anyone has any similar experiences and could offer any advice.

Could it be software? Is there maybe a factory reset that might resolve it, or is it more likely to be failed component? If so, are such things fixable?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

For the early G-series cameras, there was a report that a weaken date battery impaired the exposure/White Balance functions of the camera before the warning appears.

If that is the case with the S3 IS, buy a lithium coin battery CR1220 and replace the original following the instructions on page 135 of the advanced user guide.

Carefully check all the settings of your camera. A wrong setting can give the impression of a faulty camera.
Good luck

Rafael,

Many thanks for your post, and apologies for taking so long to respond.

I have tried a new battery as suggested, but to no avail. Everything on the camera seems to work fine, but there's just no light whatsoever getting into it - black viewfinder, and black photos.

If anything else occurs to you please let me know. Nonetheless, I greatly appreciate your suggestion.

A.