SX260HS sometimes has very dark screen, picture dark if taken, why unreliable? what do I do?

[lyn]

My PowerShot SX260HS recently started having a very dark screen and if a picture is taken when this happens, the picture is very dark.  It has been sporadic for the past two days of use and doesn't seem to be tied to turning it on and off or changing settings.  I'm leaving for a trip of a lifetime in 11 days and must have a reliable camera!  Please help asap!  Thank you!

[bocashore]

The YouTube link is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELzJ9I1RIrQ

called Powershot SX260 Screen Repair

[pjdemmitt]

Thank you!

[bubbebaby2]

Hi pjdemmit.

I hope this is not a duplicate post. I don't visit the forum much, like 1x/year.

Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELzJ9I1RIrQ

I don’t use my camera all that often, but it has not happened again.

If link doesn’t work — it is a fix presented by “Rob’s Fixit Shop”.  Make sure you have something to put all the tiny screws in.  

[martinu]

Can I check whether the "black screen problem" that people are reporting is the same as I'm having: I see a faint image of the highlights of the image (either live viewfinder or played back image that's already been photographed), with a lot of banding - some strips of hte image are brighter than others. Could it be a backlight problem? The camera still takes perfectly good photos; it's only the screen that has failed.

https://s17.postimg.org/w1jb3lzwv/IMG_0178.jpg is a photo of the screen (taken using my older Canon G9) which shows that the menu text (eg the no-flash symbol and the ISO) is only partially displayed.

It seems to be intermittent: for several days it was permanent but then after I'd taken the above picture the display is working again - but can I trust it?

https://s18.postimg.org/fvji3l5jt/IMG_0002.jpg is a photo of the camera in the same position when the screen *is* working - for comparison.

My wife has the same model of camera and it too has developed the same fault, athough on her camera, pressing the case seems to fix it for a while.

Have Canon acknowledged that there is a pattern to these faults and that it is not just a one-off very rare fault? What is the legal position with a camera that is out of warranty but which displays a fault that many other people have reported and which is therefore likely to be a design fault rather than just due to wear and tear?

[tdotmcgdot]

Not sure if there is a legal position at all. But I wrote a couple of emails until Canon fixed my camera at no charge (shipping included). The issue that I was experiencing in no way could have been from wear and tear as it was fairly new and I take exceptionally good care of high priced items. In my opinion, it is a fault. Since Canon took care of it, it seems to me that they are admitting, through action, that there is a problem.

[pjdemmitt]

I had pretty much the same problem, except my screen would go completely dark. It took pictures fine, but whatever settings were in effect before the screen would go black would be the ones I was stuck with. I watched YouTube videos to disassemble and clean the ends of the ribbon cables to the screen, as some said that would fix it. It didn't. Since it was intermittent, I just lived with it as I used this camera to fill in the medium range as I have a DSLR with a 300mm lens. It finally wouldn't even turn on, so I went to ebay to see what I could find. I came across a repair shop in Georgia, I believe, who, for a fixed $75, would repair it. His name is Gerald If you would like to contact him, his email address is <Removed Per Forum Guidelines> and his phone number is <Removed Per Forum Guidelines>. I just searched ebay for him and couldn't fine a listing for him, but you can contact him. I had him repair mine in August 2016 and it's still working fine as of November 2016. Hope this can help someone else. ~Paul