I have the EXACT same problem. A few months ago, I noticed my Macbook Pro started to crash and shut down randomly, but after all this time I have realized that these crashes are clearly associated with the Preview application. The moment I open a file with Preview and zoom-in, or try to alter it with resizing or cropping, my screen goes black and I need to reboot the laptop. Now it happens EVERY TIME I do this, so clearly it is an issue being caused by the Preview application.
Does anyone know why this is happening? Can I fix it by removing the Preview application and using any other picture viewing file instead?
Thanks in advance for the prompt response and any help you can provide.