[saranades]

Hey all!
I have a Pentax *ist D that's about 7 years old. Yesterday I was on a photo outing (fantastic scenery, perfect conditions!) and when I started seeing the playback on my screen, all the photos were white. This ultimately led into a couple other issues, of which I have been able to troubleshoot. But I am still left with taking photos that are completely white.
I looked in a previous thread from @medako, but with a different camera, i couldn't glean the answer I needed.
My camera is only at 8600 exposures.
I'd be grateful for any ideas or tips. Thank you!!

[K57XR]

Do you get the same results if you shoot in auto mode? If so, one thing that comes to mind is the lens' aperture may be stuck wide open. Do you have another lens you try?

[saranades]

yes, and I get the same results with my other lens.

[K57XR]

You can try (if you haven’t already) firing off a shot with the lens cap on. If you still get white images with the cap on and with any lens, there’s a chance your memory card could be failing and recording corrupted data.

Have you tried stopping the lens all the way down and look directly on the lens and see if the aperture blades are actually stopping down during a shot? ….just trying to throw in some ideas…

[saranades]

@K57XR
Fired a shot with lens cap on. Still white coming up. I get the same result of white photos with 2 different memory cards.

Looked at lens while shooting, appears to be normal, not sure if I am doing what you suggested. How do I stop it all the way down? (sorry if this is basic, I have "scooted by" without much tech knowledge -- tho' that's about to change!)

[Adam]

If you fired with the lens cap on, stopping down (which is done via Av mode or the aperture ring) won't get you better results.

Sounds like your ist D might be nearing the end of its life, unfortunately!

[K57XR]

You can stop down a lens in different ways. For a lens with an aperture ring, you turn the ring all the way to min aperture (highest f-number)…usually ~22 or so. If you’re using a manual focus lens but with an “A” setting or any AF lens then you can set it via AV mode. If you look directly in front of the lens and the aperture blades inside while firing a shot you should be able to see the blades closing down to whatever aperture you set (provided it isn’t the widest) then opening back up.

However, since you got the same “white” images with the lens cap on and with different SD cards, I would have to agree with Adam. It seems there may be something wrong with your camera body and may have to be send in for repairs, sorry to say.

[saranades]

Well, thanks guys! Not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I was fearing.
I realize the camera has some years on it, but only 8600 exposures, when these things go for long stretches of time....

Would you recommend taking in for repairs first before burying it in the backyard? ;-)
Also, what is an expected range of money for repairs (don't want to get ripped off and I am in an expensive specialty area).

[K57XR]

I don’t know the rated shutter count of istD but I consider 8600 “low mileage”. The K-x is rated ~ 100k shutter counts. I honestly have no idea of a ballpark cost for repairs but I’m guessing your istD problem could be electronics in nature which means it can be expensive to repair i.e. >$200 range, maybe?

If you ask me, I would sell the istD for parts and invest on a newer body.

[Squier]

As a last ( and maybe silly ) resort, could you have accidently changed the LCD screen brightness / contrast levels ??

I ask because you only mention the ' whiteouts ' while reviewing the photos in camera, and not after downloading them to the PC