PowerShot G7 Taking Very Dark Images

[powerfulshot]

Hello,

I have an old PowerShot G7 from 2006 that takes very very dark images. Here is an image of a floor lamp with very reasonable lighting conditions taken at f/5.6 and a 1/2 sec shutter speed at ISO 80: 

Here is the same subject and settings but at ISO 1600:

Does anyone know what the problem could be? Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Please start by resetting the camera's settings.  Format the memory card.  Now put the camera into [A+] auto mode.  Go outside during the day and take a sequence of shots.  What are the results.

[powerfulshot]

Thanks for the quick reply!

In auto mode and broad daylight, I get completely black images like this one:

The flash also fires every time.

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Did you reset the cameras settings as recommended? Reset, don't make any settings changes and test.  

[powerfulshot]

Yep, camera settings were reset using the “Reset All…” option in the menus. 

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:
If you have followed the advice by my colleague Rick, and have tried shooting in fully-automatic mode, yet still get the same results, I suspect that your camera has succumbed to the ravages of time.  One final question.  If you look at the rear LCD not in image review mode, what do you see - black or an actual image that looks reasonable?

[powerfulshot]

That’s unfortunate to hear. 

Yes, both the ISO and shooting mode dials were set to AUTO for the test. 

In shooting mode, the rear LCD also shows a completely black image. Sometimes when half-pressing the  shutter, I’ll see a flicker of a very faint image of the scene (similar to the second picture in my original post) as autofocus does its thing. 

[Tronhard]

Given, as you say, the camera is 18 years old, it may have succumbed to time.  It's time to consider a replacement, and you may get some solace from the significant improvements in technology in the intervening time.  Have a look at the Canon Refurbish camera page and see if you can find something there.  These are new, or as good as but may have had the box opened, a damaged box, used for demonstration or show, but come with a discount and a warranty.
Canon Point and Shoot Cameras: PowerShot | Canon U.S.A, Inc.