Help! Camera Dead (I think)

Buszaj · Feb 9, 2008

Hey everyone,

My camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ3 if it helps, a P&S), is acting up. When I turn it on, the screen is simply black; the settings are all present on the screen (ISO, picture type, exposure, etc.) but the rest is just black. If I do take a picture, it just comes out black. I have tried switching memory cards, removing the batter, every setting, put everything to default, everything. Can anybody help?
Here's the actual screen:

Thanks a lot.

R0TT3NBURIT0 · Feb 9, 2008

did you leave you lens cap on?

Buszaj · Feb 9, 2008

lol, no.

Alex_B · Feb 9, 2008

hmm.. no signal from the sensor?
looks bad then.

maybe you can "reset" the camera somehow .. maybe this is a software issue.

but i would guess it is something worse and service is needed.

Buszaj · Feb 9, 2008

Ya I was thinking that somehow the "brains" of the camera just can't receive the image. It's been serviced once before and I'm not sure if it will be worth doing again, we'll see. Maybe I'll finally buy/get the SLR I'm hoping for....

passerby · Feb 10, 2008

If it is still under warranty it is advisable for you to just return it. If they can't fix it than you may recieve the replacement for it or a refund. Just like my nokia n95 that I bought 3 days ago. It playing up from day one until this afternoon. It froze when I activated the camera. The switch off button too ineffective. I had to remove the battery to reset it every time it froze. Well, I just got home from the shop with the new replacement for it. This one works fine.

They don't actually fix the faulty mechines anymore these days, they just replace it. Your lumix I think is very current camera, I assume it is still under warranty.

Happy Hour · Feb 10, 2008

does your camera have a reset on it? have you tried taking the batteries out for a few mins and then repowering up? sometimes the just freeze up. I've had this happen a few times on different cameras reseting them usually does the trick. (at least hope!)

Buszaj · Feb 10, 2008

This camera is actually 5 years old, its been through a lot, like falling in water from a canoe, but it has worked for a while, up until a few days a go. I'm gonna take it to the service place where I serviced it before and see, if it's not worth it, we're just going to buy a new camera, (yay!). Thanks for the replies.

RKW3 · Feb 10, 2008

Buszaj said:
This camera is actually 5 years old, its been through a lot, like falling in water from a canoe, but it has worked for a while, up until a few days a go. I'm gonna take it to the service place where I serviced it before and see, if it's not worth it, we're just going to buy a new camera, (yay!). Thanks for the replies.

LOL sorry that sounds pretty funny.

Yeah go have it checked, if it's done for you should probably look at the DSLRs.

SBlanca · Feb 10, 2008

im guessing the water might have something ot do with this...i remember this friend of mine threw a water balloon out my bedroom window but missed slightly and it bounced back in and blew up over my computer monitor...it worked fne for a long while but then got messed up for no reason

Noob7_0 · Feb 11, 2008

Same thing just happened to my P&S...coincidence?

vituccin · Feb 11, 2008

My old p&s does this too. Believe it or not I would shake it a little and it would work again. This isn't necessarily solving the problem, but try that out and see what happens.

noescape · Feb 12, 2008

This happened to my camera once... It had a reset button on it that worked. Does yours have that?

Buszaj · Feb 12, 2008

Ya, like I said I did everything I could. I took it to my service shop and they gave me a free estimate since I was there before, I'll find out what the problem is soon.