OK, this is OT for the group, but does pertain to video equipment. I've got a
4 year old Canon ZR70MC Mini-DV tape camera. It doesn't get used much, but has
always been a handy little camera, and has never failed to give good results.
I used it two weeks ago, charged up the battery and placed it in the bag.
Grabbed it yesterday, and fired it up. All seemed fine, though I did notice
for the first time, that the Time/Date showed in the finder. This may have
happened before, but because the viewer of LCD screen was then filled with the
view from the camera, maybe I missed it. Anyway, all I got was a black screen
in either the viewfinder, or the LCD. The various menu items are shown, as
they should be, but no image. I have checked all of the various settings on
the camera: Tape (vs. Card), etc. Everything is as it should be. Battery is
good, and I tried the backup. Same. The tape mech. works fine. I can see the
material on previous tapes. I have recorded with it, and checked the tape -
blank! It appears that some aspect of the CCD is bad - CCD, connection, ?
Before I send it off to California for estimate and repair, I wanted to pass
the situation by the folk here. Any ideas that I should try? Any experiences
similar? I'd just hate to send it off, if it's something minor, that one of
you guys, or gals, can possibly diagnose. Obviously, I'm hoping that the
little beastie can be repaired, as its specs. are still pretty good compared
to the newer replacements from Canon. It's also only had about 12 tapes run
through it, and everything else seems to work fine. Any thoughts would be
greatly appreciated. And, yes, the lens cap is off <G>.

TIA,
Hunt