Life Expectancy of Cheaper Digital Cameras

I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.
I had taken the precaution of putting new lithium AA's in but that did no
good. Do cameras have a life span? I know about planned obsolescence but
could that work with a popular camera? What else could be wrong since I
haven't used it enough to wear it out.
Thanks for your response.
Derek in Florida

On Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:36:21 -0500, Derek Lawler wrote:

I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with
it. I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take
photos of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were
all blank. I had taken the precaution of putting new lithium AA's in but
that did no good. Do cameras have a life span? I know about planned
obsolescence but could that work with a popular camera? What else could
be wrong since I haven't used it enough to wear it out. Thanks for your
response.
Derek in Florida

Can you view them on the camera?

"Derek Lawler" wrote in message
...
I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.
I had taken the precaution of putting new lithium AA's in but that did no
good.

Did you take the batteries out before "shelving" the camera for the few
months?

While it shouldn't happen in just a few months, it's possible that the
batteries leaked into the electronics.

Of course if the view screen is operative, but you're just getting blank
pictures, the answer could be somewhat more complicated.

If you have a spare memory card (that you know is good), try swapping with
the one you currently have.

Just some ideas.

Do cameras have a life span? I know about planned obsolescence but could
that work with a popular camera? What else could be wrong since I haven't
used it enough to wear it out.
Thanks for your response.
Derek in Florida

"Derek Lawler" wrote:
I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.

Care to elaborate on that, e.g. how did you try to upload the pictures,
which OS, what does "blank" mean, ... ?

jue

On 2/7/2010 4:32 PM, Jürgen Exner wrote:
"Derek wrote:
I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.

Care to elaborate on that, e.g. how did you try to upload the pictures,
which OS, what does "blank" mean, ... ?

Yeah, black or white or zero size file?
Does it show a preview before taking the pic on the back?

Derek Lawler wrote:
I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.
I had taken the precaution of putting new lithium AA's in but that did no
good. Do cameras have a life span?

Yep. They die at maximum inconvenience.

--
Ray Fischer

Derek Lawler wrote:
I bought a Kodak cx7300 six years ago and took a lot of good shots with it.
I had put it away a few months ago and brought it out today to take photos
of a family group. When I went to upload the pictures they were all blank.

Are the pictures visible when the media is loaded in the camera? Most
digicams have a preview mode to look at pictures already taken - and
will flash up the last image taken for an instant in normal operation.
It is a good sanity check - some older cameras do not get on with the
now *much* larger memory cards available.

If you put one of the "blank" images up on a webpage that may shed soem
light.

I had taken the precaution of putting new lithium AA's in but that did no
good. Do cameras have a life span? I know about planned obsolescence but
could that work with a popular camera? What else could be wrong since I
haven't used it enough to wear it out.
Thanks for your response.
Derek in Florida

Basically no they do not wear out but you may have forgotten how to use
it. Does the cx7300 have a manual lens cap? Some early Kodak cameras did
and leaving the lens cap on the lens is a classic cause of blank images.

Regards,
Martin Brown