Too much brightness

Try checking the settings to see if it is set in "low light exposure".

I suspect that your shutter has stopped working. When you take the photos in good light, the shutter stays open causing total over exposure. I bet if you take a photo at night in a dimly lit place with flash, the photos would be fine as this does situation does not rely on the shutter.

Hi, Don't put screen in direct sun light or bright light. Bright lights will destroy LCD screen. The LCD screen has some adjustments on back. You might be able to readjust picture brightness.
Good luck.

Your have a "Display" button that toggles thru different display modes .. one of the modes turns off the LCD backlight .. that useful if you are in bright light and dont need the backlight .. you have a very nice "transflective" display that works great in bright light without the backlight ... you can get more shots with the backlight turned off on each battery charge .(about 25% more) .

so each time you operate the display mode button you will get a different display .. one shows a hystogram .. one turns off the backlight and one puts the camera in a normal mode ..

if everything is working right then even with the backlight turned off you should be able to go outside or any brightly lighted area and see the picture on the screen ..

can yo upress menu on your camera. you might have it set to portrait or anything else. try setting the mode for sp2 to landscape, and then it will work (or beach).
remember Menu--> then press ok

change the lcd setting by pressing menu then right arrow. go down to the sun picture and then click the left arrow and put it in the middle. i hope this helps.

Have you tried changing your settings manually to outdoor? Or adjusted the aperture? You can usually find the aperture settings under the menu button. If not, try adjusting to outdoor conditions and disabling flash. And also, lower your white balance a good bit.

The shooting modes are as follows: Program(P)/Auto. Modes Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. In AUTO mode you cannot use exposure compensation or panorama features. Portrait. Suitable for taking a portrait-style photo of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Landscape + Portrait. Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape. This setting allows both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Landscape. Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. Night Scene. Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both foreground subjects and the background. It is advised that you use a tripod to support the camera in this mode to help avoid blur from camera shake. Sports. Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Beach and Snow. Suitable for taking photos at the beach or on snow covered mountains; situations where there would be very bright conditions where the sun reflects off of sand or snow. Self Portrait. Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens toward yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting settings. The zoom is fixed in the wide position and cannot be changed. Movie. The movie mode enables you to take a QuickTime movie for either viewing on the LCD or on your computer. The movie will record as long as the shutter button is depressed and or until there is no storage space left on the memory in use. No sound is recorded.

The Shooting modes are as follows: PROGRAM (P)/AUTO Modes Used for general photography. The camera automatically makes the settings for natural color balance. In PROGRAM (P) the brightness (exposure compensation) can be adjusted. In AUTO mode you cannot use exposure compensation or panorama features. Portrait Suitable for taking a portrait-style shot of a person. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Landscape + Portrait Suitable for taking photos of both your subject and the landscape This setting allows for both the foreground subject and background landscape to be in focus. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Landscape Suitable for taking photos of landscapes and other outdoor scenes. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. Night scene Suitable for shooting pictures in the evening or at night. The camera sets a slower shutter speed than is used in normal shooting. If you take a picture of a street at night in any other mode, the lack of brightness will result in a dark picture with only dots of light showing. In this mode, the true appearance of the street is captured. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. If you use the flash, you can take pictures of both the subject and the background. Sports Suitable for capturing fast moving action without blurring. Even a fast moving object will appear to be stationary. Beach and Snow Suitable for taking photos at the beach or on snow covered mountains; situations where there would be vey bright conditions where the sun reflects off of sand or snow. Self Portrait Enables you to take a picture of yourself while holding the camera. Point the lens towards yourself and the focus will be locked on you. The camera automatically sets the optimal shooting conditions. The zoom is fixed in the Wide position and cannot be changed. Movie The movie mode enables you to take a Quicktime movie for either viewing on the LCD or on your computer. The movie will record as long as the shutter button is depressed and or until there is no storage space left on the memory in use. No sound is recorded.

Recording a movie of a subject that is brightly lit by the sun or some other very bright light source can cause vertical lines or bars to appear in the image during playback. This is due to a CCD phenomenon called "smearing." Note that lines or bars appear in movie images only, but not in snapshots. Smearing does not indicate malfunction of the camera.