No image output on screen or viewfinder

Is the lens cover opening ?

is your lens cover open for sure?

are the photos on the memory card? LCD could be shot or loose.

It could one of a few problems:

1. The viewfinder is pulled out and "PRIORITY" is set to "FINDER".

Push the viewfinder back in or set "PRIORITY" to "LCD".

2. The LCD monitor's brightness setting is too dark.

Adjust the brightness of the LCD monitor.

3. If the monitor is tilted upward 180 degrees, open the monitor fully.

Download the manual for more info:
JVC GR D290 Manual

Since it's a film camera, there are a couple of things to check:
1. You have left the lens cap on.
2. If this is a single lens reflex camera, take the lens off and make sure that the mirror isn't stuck in the "up" position. If it is, GENTLY pull it down until it stays down. At this point, your shutter may be open. Try cocking the shutter again, fire off a test shot, and see if the mirror sticks in the up position. If it does, you probably need to replace the mirror bumper foam - age can make foam deteriorate into a gooey, tar-like substance that can make the mirror stick in the up position.
3. Does the camera have a T (for Time) setting on the shutter speed dial? If so, turn it off the Time setting and set it to a manual shutter speed such as 1/60 - or whatever your 'X' synch speed is.
4. Your batteries died in mid-exposure. Replace the batteries. You may have enough juice in them to show the viewfinder display, but not enough to finish the exposure and close the shutter.

I found this camera available for purchase as brand new for $450. Spending nearly $300 to repair an older version may no be a wise choice. You may find there is a market for the camera in its current non-working condition on eBay.

With that said, to your questions. 1) It will be difficult to diagnose without seeing it, but I have a suspicion in mind.

The viewfinder picture is actually what the lens sees, bounced up via mirror to a prism that projects the image to the viewfinder. If the mirror has become dislodged and is stuck in an odd position, the image would not be projected in the viewfinder. You can see the mirror when you remove the lens from the body. The mirror should be centered in the opening but at about a 45 degree angle. If it is loose or otherwise in the wrong place, this could be the problem. If the mirror is stuck and preventing the image in the lens from projecting on the sensor (behind the mirror) no capture will be possible. Other than the optics inside the lens and the mirror, there are few parts that could obstruct the image in the lens from reaching the viewfinder. Is the aperture of the lens open? If not, there may not be enough light to see the image in the viewfinder. This would also indicate that the lens is not opening up to let you see, and may not get set to the correct aperture when taking a picture. The camera usually opens the aperture to allow you to have a nice, bright image in the viewfinder. When you press the shutter release, the lens stops down to what the program says (or your manual selection) and the mirror lifts up out of the way, and the shutter fires.

2) Can you fix it? Maybe. Again, without seeing it - its hard to know for sure what the problem is and I don't know your level of skill either.

My suggestion is to bypass the camera shop that "doesn't know what the problem is but will fix it for $270" (how is that even possible??) and deal directly with Olympus USA Service and Support by phone or email to get an estimate / factory trained tech perform the repair.

Good luck!

hi.if you are telling both viewfinder and lcd are blank or black the problem is in the shutter that you found inside of the lens are not open.sometimes the cuase of the is humidity or moist goin inside of the shutter thats why it will not work properly or stuck up.if you can open your camera and adjust the shuuter from lens unit its better .but if not its better you bring to service center and request for adjustment.

by the way try also to reset your camera to default setting maybe it will help you.

thank you

Hello grnca,
CCD Imager ( an electronic part) at the end of Lens Assy got defective thats why you can't see any result in camera mode.
Please contact nearset Sony repair shop for replacement of CCD Imager IC.

There is no sensible fix - new camera time.

Your camera either has no focusing screen or the screen is dislodged. Remove lens and look above the mirror : looks like frosty glass.