I cant get my LCD screen to come on and view the picture

See Chapter 5, "Live View Shooting" in the manual. If you need a manual you may download a copy and more from here.

Hi,
It is known problem of ccd imager failure in Canon A70 camera and ccd imager will be replaced to get live view in camera mode to take fresh pictures.
Canon offers free of cost ccd imager replacement for A70. Click Canon CCD Imager Advisory for details.
Thanks.

its actually probably the display. there is 3 different displays. 1. shows picture with icons 2. shows just the picture and 3. is a solid black screen. just hit the display button to cycle through until your desired display is present

I think you must have pressed the EVF/LCD button which changes the review area to inside the tiny view finder.. the EVF/LCD button is found on the back of the camera at the top left hand corner.. it is a little silver button. Hope that helps.. :)

This is normal for this camera. Think about it. The CMOS chip can't see through the mirror. After the shot is taken the electronic shutter exposes the CMOS chip and makes an image just like exposing film on a film type camera. Once you get used to it you may like it better. In outdoor or bright light situations it's difficult to view the LCD screen to frame the shot anyway.

Have u tried switching the view from and eyeview(viewfinder) to LCD while viewing pictures. Sometimes we forget it and panic. Hope it helps. Good Luck.

"Live View", where you can see and compose your picture on the LCD, was not available on any digital SLR before 2007 (the Rebel XTi came out in late 2006). So you need to compose your picture using the optical viewfinder, take your picture, and the picture shows up on the LCD after you've taken it.

But it's still faster than having to wait until the film is developed. :-)

Your camera works just like a film camera SLR,. You use the eyepiece to frame and focus your picture. The LCD screen is for reviewing pictures taken or menu operations. You cannot preview a shot on screen before it is taken with the camera.

The camera has a mirror lock up feature for cleaning the CCD sensor. You may have engaged it. Check your manual about this function

The LCD viewer is made up of the LCD screen, and the backlight. Your backlight is burnt out, or the circuit board isn't sending power to it. Backlights can be replaced separately.