[Longneck]

I Recently found a Pentax ist D and image is black on every mode. shutter looks like its working fine when i look down the lense, but when i go to playback all images are black. I am new to digital photography and would love any help the forum could give.

[seventhdr]

Try taking the lens off the camera and then triggering the shutter. You should see the shutter curtains open and close.

Regards

Chris

[Steve Beswick]

Is there any way you could post a quick video of what it’s doing on YouTube? That might make it easier for us to diagnose.

[biz-engineer]

Could be the cost of repair is not worth. There nice new cameras or even second hand that are better than istD.

[RobA_Oz]

Hi, Nick, and welcome to Pentax Forums. The *istD was a nice camera (I still have mine) although very limited in comparison even with later models from five years ago, so I'd be wary of trying to have it repaired, too. Having said that, I presume you've checked that the Compact Flash card is working. When you say that the images are black, does that mean when you preview them in the camera, or after youve downloaded them from the CF card? Aside from checking the shutter operation with the lens off, as seventhdr has suggested, I have no other advice to give you.

[Na Horuk]

The problem is that shipping to a repair shop and paying for the spare parts can end up costing as much as a used K-S1.
Id recommend you do what the above comments said. Look into the camera when you take a shot to see what happens. Does the lens aperture move correctly? Do the mirror, shutter move correctly?

Other thing you can do is Reset camera to factory defaults and reset settings. Make sure you take test photos in good natural light, with sensible settings. Using f32 and 1/6000 can lead to dark images just about anywhere

Also, check the forums for similar threads. And look for local repair shops to get a quote on how much repairs would cost. Note that the diagnosis itself can cost up to 50, 75 dollars

[erikro]

I have seen many ist D, Ds, Dl with black pictures and it has allways been the sensor that was broken.

[stihlmania]

I have a spare 1st D that I am keeping for parts that acts similar to the way your camera does. It saves a few color streaks from top to bottom on the CF card. Shows the same on preview when writing to the card. Mirror goes up and shutter is functioning. CF card is good, some type of issue with the sensor or processor and, for me, too expensive to repair.

[pathdoc]

This is how my *istDL died five years ago. It was something in the circuit boards, not the sensor itself, but that part was no longer available.

[Longneck]

Checked both aperture and shutter are working. Thanks for all the support on this By the way.
I think I'll try selling the lense if I can't get the body working.

Youtu.be

Youtu.be