Your rechargable batteries may not be used up if they aren't taking a good charge

Google make and model you should be able to download one

Your camera almost certainly has a lens error, this is such a common fault that I hope you don't mind me pasting my stock generic answer below. No point in reinventing the wheel!

Stuck lenses are probably the most common reason that compact digital cameras get thrown away, but there's a fair chance of recovering use of your camera again

The fault is commonly caused by dirt or grit blocking the mechanism, or due to it having suffered a recent fall. Another common cause is that the camera was in a pocket or bag and the power button accidentally activated and tried to open the lens against resistance. The mechanism may have simply become dislodged or there may be parts which have broken.

If your camera is still under warranty and has definitely not been subject to misuse then contact the Fuji service department in your country to find out about a free repair. If the warranty has expired though a professional repair will far exceed the cost of replacing your camera. You will therefore have nothing to lose by trying to fix this yourself.

Please click here and you will be taken to an excellent article provided by the Camera Repair website. For the most part, you'll be guided on how to physically manipulate your camera to try and clear the fault. Although the article mentions Canon a few times, the advice applies equally to all cameras with lens errors and is not model-specific.

Your camera almost certainly has a lens error, this is such a common fault that I hope you don't mind me pasting my stock generic answer below. No point in reinventing the wheel!

Stuck lenses are probably the most common reason that compact digital cameras get thrown away, but there's a fair chance of recovering use of your camera again

The fault is commonly caused by dirt or grit blocking the mechanism, or due to it having suffered a recent fall. Another common cause is that the camera was in a pocket or bag and the power button accidentally activated and tried to open the lens against resistance. The mechanism may have simply become dislodged or there may be parts which have broken.

If your camera is still under warranty and has definitely not been subject to misuse then contact the Canon service department in your country to find out about a free repair.[NOTE: exposure to sand counts as misuse] If the warranty has expired though a professional repair will far exceed the cost of replacing your camera. You will therefore have nothing to lose by trying to fix this yourself.

Please click here and you will be taken to an excellent article provided by the Camera Repair website. For the most part, you'll be guided on how to physically manipulate your camera to try and clear the fault. Although the article mentions Canon a few times, the advice applies equally to all cameras with lens errors and is not model-specific.

Your camera almost certainly has a lens error, this is such a common fault that I hope you don't mind me pasting my stock generic answer below. No point in reinventing the wheel!

Stuck lenses are probably the most common reason that compact digital cameras get thrown away, but there's a fair chance of recovering use of your camera again

The fault is commonly caused by dirt or grit blocking the mechanism, or due to it having suffered a recent fall. Another common cause is that the camera was in a pocket or bag and the power button accidentally activated and tried to open the lens against resistance. The mechanism may have simply become dislodged or there may be parts which have broken.

If your camera is still under warranty and has definitely not been subject to misuse then contact the manufacturer's service department in your country to find out about a free repair. If the warranty has expired though a professional repair will far exceed the cost of replacing your camera. You will therefore have nothing to lose by trying to fix this yourself.

Please click here and you will be taken to an excellent article provided by the Camera Repair website. For the most part, you'll be guided on how to physically manipulate your camera to try and clear the fault. Although the article mentions Canon a few times, the advice applies equally to all cameras with lens errors and is not model-specific.

Hi Denise. From your description, you almost certainly have suffered the infamous "Sony 5MP CCD Failure". if you find that the screen will display pictures taken before the fault occurred perfectly normally then it's definitely the CCD and not the LCD display which is faulty.

Sony acknowledged that there was a production fault with the component involved and as it was used in many of their cameras and many other brands as well it's been a very costly fault. Many owners threw their cameras away as repairs were too costly, but were unaware that Sony were offering free repairs if contacted. Your camera is quite old now, but my Sony DSC-V1 is even older and was repaired for free last summer. I understand that (in the UK at least) Sony are still repairing affected models until November 2009..

I suggest that you contact Sony directly to find out more. They try to scare off owners by saying that the CCD fault is a free repair but you must agree to pay a fairly hefty charge if the fault is caused by something else. Subject to the simple test I mentioned in my first paragraph, you have described classic symptoms of a faulty CCD.

One word of advice: when the repair is done correctly it's great, but I've had a few of these done now and some later appeared to have identical water droplet marks on every photo. These marks are caused by splashes of either glue or lubricant carelessly applied during repair. Sony will rectify this but you need to let them know promptly, so as soon as you get the camera back test it thoroughly and examine your photos carefully for any traces of these marks.

See the following web address for details: it's the US website but you can navigate to your own territory to find advice for your region.

http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=161&mdl=DSCF717