It does seem like a very small number of A610s have this problem. Has anyone tried to just hit the display button on the side. That button takes turns of the imaging on the camera.
On many forum threads, most people say that Canon service is very good....even from the thread that someone on this thread posted on there. I do have to ask a question to that person since it wasn't answered on dpreview. If you had 3 Canon cameras break in five years, why would you buy the second or third? My G2 is still going strong since I bought it in 2001.
Here are some threads on Canon service...including the thread that was started by someone who posted here.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1010&thread=27762997&page=1
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1031&message=28027414&q=canon+service&qf=m
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1032&message=27858949&q=canon+service&qf=m
http://www.vendorrate.com/Vendors/Canon+USA+Inc
http://www.customersat.com/Resources/Newsletter/Q3_2007/Canon.htm
Sometimes "bad things happen"; every camera manufacturer has some instances where their product didn't work -- or didn't work well or long. How good that manufacturer appears to the person whose camera doesn't work is not debatable -- but how many of these instances are there? Consumer Reports does one of the best sampling of MANY users in its annual survey, and if you look at their ratings by manufacturer you can that Canon shows up very well compared to the other brands. Individual descriptions of faults and/or quality (plus and minus) abound in this thread, and I believe everyone who wrote described things truthfully as seen from their viewpoint.
Other camera manufactures have their off cameras too. These threads sound like this one except replace Canon with X.
http://www.camerahacker.com/Forums/DisplayComments.php?file=Digital%20Camera/Nikon/Nikon_Coolpix_5700_viewfinder_problem
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cameras/nikon.html
http://www.camerahacker.com/Forums/DisplayComments.php?file=Digital%20Camera/Sony/DSC-H2_Shutter_release_button
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=11661
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7813_102-0.html?forumID=58&threadID=246684&messageID=2481164
http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/kodak-easyshare-c340_question.html?qid=2493
Canon owns 41% of the market share of cameras(2007), and they wouldn't keep it by selling shoddy equipment. The next one is Sony at 16%. So if 5% of electronic cameras fail, then Canon would have two and half times more bad cameras then the closest competitor. The have more cameras go bad because they have more cameras out there. Their failure rate of cameras is good compared to the competitors and extremely good considering the amount of product they put out.
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 $107 plus applicable taxes and shipping (I'm not under warranty anymore), but of course that quote might go up once they receive the camera. I've read online that dead CCD repairs can be quite costly, but I don't really know.
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. I found an SD1000 for only $260 at Circuit City, so any repair costing more than $150 doesn't seem too worthwile to me at this point.
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 (new batteries, switching shooting modes, pressing the display button), but any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks!

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