I have nikon coolpix s210. when i turn on the camera, the view finder screen is black, i cannot take pictures as they come out black. though the flash and other functions work well. i can also see photos and video in Play mode. However, i cannot take pictures.

This problem (the screen with no picture) can be caused by a number of problems). One is that a connection with in the camera has disconnected. Another is the possibility of the LCD being bad or broken (some of these LCDs are hard to detect broken screens). Another problem could be with in the circuits has stopped working. Another could be that there is a problem with the CCD sensor. If any menus can be shown, then the problem is within the lens or sensor or something related. If you can see nothing on the screen, no matter what you pick, then the problems are harder to detect as to what is wrong.