Black screen problem

A lot of people that bought the first generation HD1 have had a problem whereby the LCD screen goes black, but the date, image size, old pictures etc. still shows up on the screen, so it's not the screen itself malfunctioning.

This especially a problem if Sanyo refuses to honor your warranty because, like me, you bough the HD1 early on eBay and thus they claim you're not the first owner, and therefore they don't have to honor the warranty.

I had this problem too. It's caused by grease on the iris curing (setting) and jamming it locked. The motor that opens the iris when you turn the camera on isn't powerful enough to overcome it, hence the black screen.

There's a tutorial online somewhere about how to fix it yourself. But if you're like me and not that good at that sort of thing take it to a local camera repair shop and get them to fix it. Tell them what the problem is and that you need them to clean the iris blades. Emphasize you don't want them to grease them afterwards, just leave them dry and clean. The guy i took it to was very unsure when i told him all this but told me I was 100% right when i picked my camera up, and that cleaning the iris blades had fixed it.

It's been 4 months since I had it fixed/cleaned, and it's being working great every since.

PS. There's a strong suggestion Sanyo knew about this when they shipped it but shipped it anyway. It's not been proven one way or the other, but I personally will never buy a Sanyo product again.