Looking for a digital camera for Sports, can you help?

csi

I am looking to purchase a digital camera that has a fast enough AF to capture sports. I would like to purchase a camera with at least 4 megapixels and has a 8x optical zoom. I am looking to spend $500 or less. If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Thanks.

wxwax

Hi, CSI. Shooting sports is one of the toughest things you can ask of a consumer camera. You need big zoom, fast lens, low noise at higher ISOs, and instant shutter response (perhaps the hardest feature to find.) Image stabilization is pretty helpful too. Not many cameras have all that.

I can't suggest a camera, I'll leave that to others. Instead, if you haven't already, try reading the reviews at www.dpreview.com and www.stevesdigicams.com. Both provide thorough reviews of the cameras in which you might be interested.

Good luck, and please let us know what you finally select.

DewrGleision

Ill second the wax-man's recomendation of dpreview.com; thats where I get all my info.
Yes, actually, the other reason I post here is Im also very interested to see what you turn up; Id do it myself (and probably will a little), but its kinda crazy around here right now, and its night-to-night "parties" (I hate that word; from now on, Im gonna call it frenzied bacchanalian revelry [with 4x4s!!!]! So there, pop culture!) and the first rain hasnt even come yet!
Id suggest a lead in the Konica-Minolta direction, if not Canon...

csi

Right now I am torn between 4 cameras:

Olympus CAMEDIA C 750
not all the bells and wistles as the others but I can get an underwater camera housing for it and use my camera diving. Downside is the slower autofocus, no manual controls, and as far as I know there is no burst options.

FujiFilm S7000 Finepix
Has all the bells and wistles, just missing any kind of stablization and only a 6X zoom. Most expensive in the group, no underwater housing.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10K
Has image stablization, 12x zoom, all the bells and wistles. A little on the large size and no underwater housing.

CANON POWERSHOT S1 IS
Has image stablization, 10x zoom, and rapid autofocus. Smaller and can get underwater housing for it. Camera stores all love this camera and tell me I should get it. Reviews I have read mention tons of problems in low light situations. Its only 3.2 Megapixels.

Now if only I could combine all the good qualities and get rid of all the bad qualities of these four I would be the happiest man alive. Any suggestions????

wxwax

Unless you plan to make large prints, I shouldn't think the Canon 3.2 mp would be a problem. Perhaps Patch29 can chime in about low-light shooting, as he has one. He made some excellent shots in the Atlanta subway system, so the problem lighting conditions would have to be darker than that.

I'm fascinated by the Panasonic: my hesitation would be in buying a camera from a non-traditional camera maker.

Slow autofocus instantly kills the Olympus for sports shooting.

Have you compared shutter response time on the cameras? If you're trying to shoot sports, the lag between depressing the button and the shutter responding can mean missed shots over and over - it's incredibly frustrating.

dkapp

csi wrote:

Right now I am torn between 4 cameras:

Olympus CAMEDIA C 750
not all the bells and wistles as the others but I can get an underwater camera housing for it and use my camera diving. Downside is the slower autofocus, no manual controls, and as far as I know there is no burst options.

FujiFilm S7000 Finepix
Has all the bells and wistles, just missing any kind of stablization and only a 6X zoom. Most expensive in the group, no underwater housing.

Panasonic DMC-FZ10K
Has image stablization, 12x zoom, all the bells and wistles. A little on the large size and no underwater housing.

CANON POWERSHOT S1 IS
Has image stablization, 10x zoom, and rapid autofocus. Smaller and can get underwater housing for it. Camera stores all love this camera and tell me I should get it. Reviews I have read mention tons of problems in low light situations. Its only 3.2 Megapixels.

Now if only I could combine all the good qualities and get rid of all the bad qualities of these four I would be the happiest man alive. Any suggestions????

I have the Panasonic and Love it. The size is not bad, anything smaller would be hard to hold steady at full zoom. The IS works great, it saved a lot of shots for me. The thing you forgot to mention was the f/2.8 throughout the entire zoom range & Leica optics.

Dave

mercphoto

Camera for sports

csi wrote:

I am looking to purchase a digital camera that has a fast enough AF to capture sports. I would like to purchase a camera with at least 4 megapixels and has a 8x optical zoom.

What type of sports? Baseball or football or soccer (outdoors)? Basketball (indoors)? Car, motorcycle or kart racing (continuous movement?) The reason I ask is that for some types of sports photography image stabilization is a worthless feature (such as racing). Also indoor versus outdoor has different needs from the lens. Indoor needs much larger apertures due to less available light.

Also what size prints do you want to be able to make? Will decide how many megapixles you really need. 3MP makes poor poster prints, even with expensive glass, for example, but makes fine 8x10s.

wxwax

dkapp wrote:

The thing you forgot to mention was the f/2.8 throughout the entire zoom range & Leica optics.

Dave

Good feedback, and an excellent point about the lens being fast throughout the range.

csi

as far as sports, my wife jumps horses and when I tried taking pictures with her digital camera I mostly got the horses butt, it was such a pain. But I would also enjoy taking pictures of football, hockey etc. I do love the Panasonic, anyone know if there is an underwater housing for it??

mercphoto

Jumping horses

csi wrote:

as far as sports, my wife jumps horses and when I tried taking pictures with her digital camera I mostly got the horses butt, it was such a pain. But I would also enjoy taking pictures of football, hockey etc. I do love the Panasonic, anyone know if there is an underwater housing for it??

Getting just the butt of the horse sounds like either an issue with you keeping up with a moving object, or a camera with too much shutter lag. The shutter lag is typical of inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras, but atypical of SLR cameras. My old Fuji 3800 had horrible shutter lag and is inappropriate for sports photography.

Keeping up with the object just takes a lot of practice. I had the same problem when photographing shifter karts and getting too much engine and not enough front tires.

csi

Alright I went with the Fuji S7000, can't wait to get it and try out all its features. Thank you all for your help.

DewrGleision

Well, good luck to ya! (You sure you dont just have something with horses' butts? )
Gotta post some pics, first thing you do! Forget everything else until youve posted a pic from the new cam on Dgrin--I command you!