My Olympus SP350 is apparently broken. It's only a few months old. Last night, I turned it on, and the LCD screen was brightly lit (white) with a strange black image on it (kind of looks like a stingray's tail). The camera appears to be taking pictures (if I look through the viewfinder) but the LCD screen continues to have this image displayed on it, no matter what I do. I 've changed the batteries, checked the settings and even removed and replaced the memory card.

Unfortunately, trapped inside are all of the pictures I took at last weekend's ToonFest at Disney Studios, and I'm going to be heartbroken if they're lost.

When I hooked the camera up to the computer to try to retrieve the pictures, I got the message that an Olympus camera can't be found, so it's not even recognizing the device.

Has anybody experienced anything like this? Is there any hope? Anything else I can try?

(It took my husband about two years to convince me that digital is better than 35mm film...guess who is ready to go back?)

I would be surprised if your pictures are lost. It sounds like the LCD screen just went bad. I would contact either your retailer or Olympus about a warranty repair. In the mean time, I would get a cheap card reader to attach to your computer to get the pictures off of your card. Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/ImageMate-12-in-1-Hi-speed-SDDR-89-A15-Package/dp/B00064V6RG/sr=8-1/qid=1157133671/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5067938-4817646?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

There are a lot cheaper ones, I just picked the first to come up.

First off, offload the pics from your memory card. If you don't already have one, you can pick up a card reader at Best Buy for less than $20 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6785393&st=sd+card+reader&type=product&id=1089890841617). Then, since the camera is certainly still under warranty, call for help! There should be a technical support phone number in the materials that came with the camera.

Good luck!

You guys were right; thank you SO much. After reading your posts, I decided not to freak out until my husband got home with the card reader and I knew for certain the photos were lost -- they weren't. He got them. Yay!

There were a couple that I would have been very upset to lose, so thanks for getting me through the day! Now to figure out what's up with the LCD screen...

Thanks again!

Umm I could be crazy but this sounds like exactly what happened when my brother busted his LCD screen. It essentially shattered inside, he thinks one of his friends stepped on it the last time he had it out... oops